Puntarenas is one of the main ports of Costa Rica and has a tremendous amount of local culture. Just making your way through the streets of Puntarenas, you can feel the vibe of the fishing industry. The word Puntarenas means "sandy point" referring to the long, sandy peninsula that this provincial and municipal capital sits on. Local Costa Ricans flock to this popular seaside destination because one of the many things to do in Puntarenas is go surfing, eat delicious sea food and much more. Puntarenas is also a great stopover location for people traveling by ferry to the popular beach destinations of Santa Teresa, Malpais and Montezuma, as well as Monteverde. The port of Puntarenas is called Caldera and was developed to export coffee in the mid 1800s.

The Puntarenas Ferry is located about 2km from the city center.

The Ferry to the Northern Region of Nicoya (Coyote, San Miguel, Samara, Nicoya, Nosara) is accessed on the Puntarenas to Naranjo Ferry.

Puntarenas to Naranjo Ferry:

6:30am

10am

2:20pm

7:30pm

Naranjo to Puntarenas Ferry:

8am

12:30pm

5:30pm

9pm

Access to the Southern Region of Nicoya (Tambor, Montezuma, Malpais, Santa Teresa) is via the Puntarenas to Paquera Ferry:

Puntarenas to Paquera:

5am

9am

11am

2pm

5pm

8:30pm

Paquera to Puntarenas:

5:30am

9am

11am

2pm

5pm

8pm

The cost of the ticket is approximately US$2 and costs $24 to take a car aboard and takes about 65 minutes to travel across the Nicoya Bay.

If you intend to continue on to Tambor, it will take about 40 mins (24km); Montezuma is about an 80 minute driver further (48km) and to reach Malpais and Santa Teresa, it's about 90 minutes (58km) on pretty rough roads.