Paquera-Puntarenas Ferry: How to do this in 2021

The soft rays of the setting sun washed my skin golden, a soothing breeze swept my hair and an unknown joy filled my heart. Seated on the upper deck of the Puntarenas Ferry, I kept visualizing the map of Costa Rica in my head. Hanging like the right arm of the country, the Nicoya peninsula is detached from the mainland on its east by the Gulf of Nicoya.

The easiest way to travel to and from the Nicoya peninsula is to take the Naviera Tambor Ferry, popularly known as the Puntarenas Ferry. You can take the ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera for onward journey to Nicoya, and from Paquera to Puntarenas for the return.

We took the ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas, with our car, in January 2021 at the end of an epic road trip, spanning from tropical dry forests near the Nicaragua border in the north to the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. So based on our recent experience of taking the ferry, we created this comprehensive guide about everything you need to know about the Puntarenas Ferry.

Ferry Schedule: Puntarenas-Paquera and Paquera-Puntarenas

The ferries between Paquera and Puntarenas run 5 times a day, all days of the week. Given below are the updated ferry schedules for 2021, for both routes: Puntarernas to Paquera and Paqeura to Punaternas.

From Puntarenas to Paquera	From Paquera to Puntarenas
07:00 am	06:00 am
10:00 am	10:00 am
12:30 pm	12:30 pm
03:00 pm	03:00 pm
06:00 pm	05:00 pm

Punaternas Ferry Ticket Price

You have to pay the ferry ticket price for all passengers in your group as well as your vehicle. Taxes will be added to the total purchase.

• Car: 12, 882 CRC (~21 USD)
• Adults: 810 CRC (~1.30 USD)
• Senior Citizens: 485 CRC (~0.80 USD)
• Children: Free

Where to purchase the ferry tickets

You can purchase your Puntarenas-Paquera or Paquera-Puntarenas ferry tickets online as well as offline. We have listed below all the steps you need to follow, for both online and offline ticket purchase options.

Please note, only a limited quantity of ferry tickets are sold online. So, if you want to skip the long waiting period for offline ticket, remember to make your reservation in advance.

Online Ticket Purchase: Step by step

You can purchase the tickets online at https://www.quickpaycr.com/.

The site is in Spanish. But do not auto-translate the page for all the site functionalities to work properly. We have listed below a step by step guide of how to book the ferry tickets online on this Spanish site.

Ferry Ride Details

1. On the first page “Elige el destino”, choose your ferry route from the “Salida y Destino” drop-down menu. For ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas, choose PAQUERA A PUNTARENAS. For ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera, choose PUNTARENAS A PAQUERA.
2. Select the date of your ferry ride.
3. Select your preferred time of travel.
4. Click on “Siguiente” to move forward to the next page “Tipo de servicio”.

Vehicle and Passenger Details

1. If you are traveling with car, choose Vehículo from the drop down, otherwise select Persona(s).
2. If you selected Vehículo, the next step will be to choose the type of vehicle. For regular cars, choose Vehículo Liviano (Automovíl) from the listed options.
3. Add the number of persons in the given boxes – Adulto(s), Niño(s) and Adulto Mayor, for adults, children and senior citizens respectively.
4. Click on “Siguiente” to move forward to the next page “Datos Generales”.
5. Enter your vehicle number in the box below “Número de placa del vehículo”. If yours is going to be a rental car and you do not have the vehicle number yet, just write “Rental Car”.
6. Write your name, contact number and email in the boxes below “Nombre del cliente”, “Número de teléfono” and “Correo Electrónico” respectively.
7. If you have a Costa Rican cedula or DIMEX and need a factura, click on “Datos para factura”. A small box will pop up, prompting to enter the ID details. If you want to skip this, click on “Sin factura”.
8. Check the box “Acepto los términos y condiciones” confirming that you accept the terms and conditions, if you agree with the same.

Payment

1. Click on “Comprar” to initiate the purchase. A small dialogue box will appear confirming the destination, date and time of your ferry ride. Review the details and click on “Si” if everything looks fine. Else, go back to edit the details.
2. The next page will show the total cost and its breakdown by the list of your items to purchase. Review and click on “Confirmar compra”.
3. The payment page will appear where you can complete the transaction using your credit card. After entering the details, click on “Enviar”.

Offline Ticket Purchase: Step by step

In case you missed reserving the ferry tickets online, you can still take the ferry by purchasing the tickets from the ticket counter on the day of your travel. Here is a step by step guide about how to complete the ferry ticket purchase offline.

Joining the car queue

1. Drive to the Paquera Ferry Landing or the Naviera Tambor Ferry, depending on the departure point of your Naviera Tambor ferry ride.
2. Plan to arrive at least 2 hours before the scheduled ferry time.
3. As you approach the destination, you will see the queue of cars. Join this queue.
4. Prepare for a long wait in the car as the queue slowly moves ahead when you approach the ferry departure time.

Purchasing the tickets from the counter

1. When your car reaches the first position in line, an official will give you a card for your vehicle (green at Paquera and orange at Puntarenas). See picture below for reference.
2. The same official will direct you to the place where you need to park for getting in line to board the ferry.
3. One person from your travel group then needs to get off the car and walk towards the ticket counter. [Do not do this until you have the vehicle card.]
4. At Paquera, the ticket counter is in the same building where there is a small cafeteria and restrooms. [You need to pay 400 colones per person if you need to use the restrooms.]
5. Stand in the queue at the ticket counter. As you reach the counter, you will need to return the colored card for vehicle and make the payment for your car and all the persons in the car.
6. You will be given multiple paper tickets (see picture below for reference)– one ticket for car + 1 adult (for the person in the driver’s seat), plus other for other persons. For both, you will get two copies – one original and one copy.
7. Return to your car and wait for boarding.
8. You will need to submit the copy tickets to the official before boarding the ferry and retain the originals with you.

Reality Check on the Waiting Time

Even after waiting in the car queue, you are not actually guaranteed a spot in the immediate next ferry. The same queue continues for the next ferry as well. On regular days, you should be able to catch the immediate next ferry because the ferry can accommodate more than 100 cars.

But during peak holiday seasons, like Christmas, New Year and Semana Santa (Holy Week), do not be surprised if your waiting time changes from 2 hours to 4 hours in the snap of a moment. For real!

We took the ferry on the first Sunday after New Year’s Eve. We had arrived near the ferry dock and joined the car queue at 1:15 pm for the 3:00 pm ferry. But we missed the 3:00 pm ferry by just 3 cars!

And no, nobody told us between 1:15 pm and 3:00 pm that our car (and hence we) will not fit in the car count of the 3:00 pm ferry! There were dozens of other cars behind ours as well. But the good part was that we were just 4th in line, and hence kind of guaranteed, for the next ferry at 5:00 pm.

How did we sustain this long waiting period in our car on a hot sunny afternoon? We just turned it into a little picnic where the two of us listened to music, ate snacks, observed other people, enjoyed the ocean view and chatted about little things in life. More tips on this in the last section of this post.

Step by step process to board the Puntarenas Ferry

For your car

• If you purchased the tickets online, you need not join the queue of cars, instead you can bypass it and drive straight towards the ferry dock.
• If you did not purchase the ferry tickets online, follow the steps listed above to buy the ferry tickets from the counter.
• When it is time to embark the ferry, drive towards the garage. The ferry staff will guide you.
• There are two parking areas – one in the basement and the other on the open deck. Our car was directed to the basement garage. Our guess is that this distribution of cars between the two garages is done randomly.
• Park your car, take valuables with you and lock the car . Take note that parking in the basement needs precise maneuvering as all the cars are parked in a a very tight grid of rows and columns.

For you

• Take the stairs to walk up to the deck and choose a spot for your ride.
• There are two decks – the lower deck in enclosed and air-conditioned, whereas the upper one is open air. For a daytime ride, if you want to to avoid the sun and the wind, choose the lower deck. For sunset hour ride, we would recommend the upper deck, for unobstructed views.
• Last but not the least, enjoy the ride!

For disembarking, you need to walk down the stairs, head to the garage, squeeze yourself in to your car in that tight maze of cars and drive out of the ferry boat and hit the road. It is that simple. The ferry staff again will assist you out of the garage.

Paquera to Puntarenas Ferry Ride Experience

The ferry route between Paquera and Puntarenas is utilized by the locals on a daily basis. It is the most convenient public transport connecting Nicoya to the mainland Costa Rica. So, your co-passengers on the ferry are not just tourists, but locals as well.

For Puntarenas Ferry, the sail on the sea is for about 75 minutes. Right from the start of the ferry ride, there was a cheerful vibe all around us. We had fun watching everyone around us and this energy is probably one of the reasons for the unknown joy I mentioned at the beginning of this article.

There is a beverage counter where people queued up to purchase beer cans. Sipping on their cerveza, families played music on speaker and sang along to the lively Latin tunes and often got up to groove a bit. If people were not soaked in beer and music, they were busy taking sunset selfies or chatting among themselves, always wearing ear to ear smiles.

The timing of our Paquera-Puntarenas ferry coincided with the sunset hour. So the joyous atmosphere on the ferry deck was complemented by a golden sky, glistening sea and birds returning to their nests. We felt like we were on a sunset cruise, one that is imbibed with the terrific Tico energy!

P.S: If you plan to plan to travel to the southern part of Nicoya peninsula from Liberia, check out our post with details about driving directions and road conditions.

COVID-19 protocols for the ferry ride

Masks: It is mandatory to wear your mask for the entirety of the ferry ride, starting from when you are seated inside your car before embarking the ferry. Yes, they check!

Soap/Sanitizer: There is a wash basin at the cafeteria building near the ferry dock. There are washrooms with attached wash basin areas. Both areas have refillable soap containers. But, at the time of our visit during the peak season, all the dispensers were out of liquids (very uncharacteristic of Costa Rica). So, remember to carry your hand sanitizer.

Social Distancing: It is recommended to maintain a distance of 1.8 meters from other social bubbles. However, once you board the ferry, nobody actually monitors this. It is your responsibility to maintain a safe distance from other social bubbles. We took the ferry in January 2021 on a Sunday during peak travel season. Although the ferry was quite full, the social distancing among people was at a fairly acceptable level.

Advantages of taking the Puntarenas Ferry

The main advantage of taking the Naviera Tambor ferry is that you cut down significantly on the driving time. Whether you are returning from Santa Teresa, Malpais, Cabuya or Montezuma, driving feels like a breeze if you take the ferry.

Paquera ferry landing is only about 1 hour’s drive away from Montezuma. From the Puntarenas ferry landing, you need to drive for only about 90 minutes to reach San Jose. In between, you are just sailing for about 75 minutes.

So, if you take the Puntarenas ferry to travel to or from Nicoya peninsula, you cut down on travel time as well as save on energy by driving shorter distances, that too broken in phases.

Disadvantages of taking the Puntarenas Ferry

If you did not reserve your ferry ticket online, you need to reach the ferry landing area at least two hours before the scheduled departure. So, in total, you will be spending as much time traveling as you would if you had to drive around the peninsula.

Paquera-Puntarenas ferry is a public transport. Needless to say, social distancing, the need of 2021, can be practiced better in your car than on a public ferry.

Also, the road route is now not that bad as it used to be few years ago.

Tips to get the best experience of Puntarenas Ferry

For taking the Puntarenas ferry either to or from Nicoya peninsula, you will constantly need to be aware of several small connecting pieces. So, we created this checklist, summarizing all the tips that should help you get a smooth experience of taking the Puntarenas ferry.

Sanitization and Social Distancing

• Wash hands before and after the ferry.
• Carry alcohol based hand sanitizer – apply to your hands often.
• Try to avoid touching surfaces as much as you can.
• Maintain a safe distance from other social bubbles.

Booking Tickets & Planning Arrival Time

• Reserve you tickets online in advance, as soon as you finalize your travel dates.
• If the limited number of online tickets are already sold out, you can still take the ferry by buying the ferry tickets offline from the counter near the ferry dock, on the day of travel.
• If you are going for the offline tickets, arrive early. How early? At least 2 hours before the scheduled ferry time!

Waiting Time

For the offline ticket queue, prepare well to spend the couple of hours waiting time in the car, both logistically and mentally.

Logistics preparation: Either eat before joining the queue or carry snacks to eat in the car. Carry drinking water.

Mental preparation: Instead of getting impatient during the waiting period, embrace this suddenly granted free time. We learnt this from the other Ticos and Ticas waiting in the car queue for the ferry. Here is what we noticed – some people were sleeping in their cars, some were watching movies on their laptops, while some others were busy talking among themselves. There was another group who laid out their foldable beach chairs on the road, next to their car and created a mini party. This was just a little glimpse of the Pura Vida way of life in Costa Rica – take life as it comes and be happy in the moment!

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