Hi Sherribear!

This is a really great question! There’s lots of information available about private transfer services, but not a ton about how to arrange them. I can answer your questions for you!

The quick answer is: You can do either; you can hire one driver for all of the transfers you need, or you can hire drivers individually for each route you plan to take.

The long answer is: You’re best to hire drivers individually for each route you plan to take, and those drivers can either be from one company or from several companies. Generally, the cheapest option is to select a company that’s based in the destination you plan to leave from, because they already have drivers there and ready to go, as opposed to them needing to call in drivers from other areas to pick you up, which can increase costs due to the added drive time and gas usage. That being said, several popular transportation companies have drivers spread out around the country, so they may be able to provide you with an affordable transfer service price even if you choose to depart from a town that isn’t where the company is headquartered.

I wouldn’t recommend hiring the same driver to provide each of the transfers you’ll need during your trip because that option can get quite expensive. With it, the driver will essentially be following along with you throughout your trip, moving you from place to place, and they’ll expect you to cover the cost of their food and accommodations. For this reason, it’s better to treat each transfer service individually, so you’re only paying for expenses related to the driver moving you between point A and point B.

The routes you plan to take for your trip (San Jose -> Manuel Antonio -> Arenal -> Liberia) are incredibly popular. Tons of companies service these routes, so rates are often very competitive. You could use a company from San Jose for your first transfer, a company from Manuel Antonio for your second transfer, and a company from Arenal for your third transfer. That’s 100% okay, and will likely produce the lowest rates overall. Alternatively, if you don’t want to make arrangements with multiple transportation companies, you could book all three transfer services with one popular transportation company. Most popular transportation companies will be able to provide drivers for each of these three popular routes. I like Desafio Adventure Company and Ride Costa Rica; both are based in the Arenal area, but provide transportation services all around the country.

In proceeding from here, I’d recommend reaching out to either or both of those companies to see what they’d charge you for each individual route. If a San Jose-based or Manuel Antonio-based transportation company can provide you with a better rate for the San Jose -> Manuel Antonio service, you could consider going with them for that route instead.

Pura vida! 🙂