Driving in Costa Rica

In case one doesn't see it elsewhere on this site, a GPS map for Costa Rica is $59.95, not $150.

http://www.gpstravelmaps.com/costarica.php

Or you can install the free, routable open source maps from openstreetmap.nl at:

http://tinyurl.com/3f7gevw

They may or may not be as complete as a pay version. You'll have to determine that for yourself.

Thanks to rocknicehunter's entry, I downloaded the free map. It was easy after I ignored 95% of the instructions I saw on the web.

From http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ under North America, select Costa Rica. Then click NI-Managua on the left. This will download 63241317.img.

Then follow the directions at http://freegeographytools.com/2007/adding-garmin-img-files-t....

The above line didn't show up completely. The end is -files-to-mapsource.

You don't need all the other files you get clicking elsewhere. I downloaded this to my Garmin 365WT and it works great. It has lots of points of interest. Most of the words are Spanish so don't expect to search for museum or volcano. Even if the other map is better, this has everything I need.

Thanks rocknicehunter. You saved me $59.95 and improved my self-esteem.

I just got back from Costa Rica and here are my observations. A gps is essential if you are traveling independently. The gps is as important as your passport.

Lots of roads are not named and most of the named ones do not have street signs at intersections. We took the bus to downtown San Jose and we needed the gps to tell us where we were, not just show us where we needed to go.

I used the free openstreetmaps map and a Garmin 265WT. The following problems do not reflect my complete satisfaction with openstreetmaps and the Garmin.

Sometimes the direction of the turn at the top of the gps and the verbal direction would be incorrect. The map itself would be correct. Another traveler mentioned the same problem. Make sure you see the arrow on the map before you decide which way to turn.

I tried to locate an address in Cartago, and the gps didn't have Cartago as a city that way. I located a point of interest in Cartago (It did have Cartago in that list of cities.) near the address and from a printed map I located the address and saved it as a favorite.

The route it gave between San Jose and Carara was not the best route. It sent us Rts. 1 and 3 instead of 27. On the way back, we took Rt. 27, and it kept telling us to turn around until we were nearly back to San Jose. Putting in a via point would direct us to the via point and tell us to turn around, so we did not have an estimate of our actual expected travel time. Rt 27 was a toll road, but I had not specified avoiding toll roads.

The location of La Paz Waterfall Gardens is actually 10.204667, 84.161167. This is farther down the road than the map showed. The road to the Waterfall Gardens was the worst one we encountered. We heard around Monteverde the roads are bad, but we did not go there.

The location of the Lankester Garden parking lot is actually 9.840033, 83.888233. The map gives the location of the center of the park, so directs one past the road to the parking lot.

The location of the Doka Coffee Tour and the roads to it are not on the map but it is easy to find with directions. We did not have directions. There are some small signs, but not where they need to be.

The turnoff is at 10.079567, 84.1925. The parking lot is at 10.0974, 84.210834. There is a right turn, then a left turn at a fork, and another left turn, but just heading for the parking lot should get you there. The butterfly garden was very nice there.

Suggest you try Cenrut: http://www.cenrut.org/adw/over.htm

CenRut is a community-based project to create and freely distribute GPS maps of Central America. The project covers Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

And be careful there... as the ditches along the roads are deep and wide....

Was going to rent a motorcycle there when on vacation, until I saw the ditches along the roadway on the Pan American Highway!!!

Decided against riding in Costa Rica, as the deep ditch prevented any 'emergency exit' from the roadway.... Something that a motorcyclist needs...

Beautiful Country, though!