BethMB asked 8 years ago
We have a car for the 3 months we are spending in CR and want to drive from Pilon, north of Pavones, to Drake Bay in late March. We understand that you can take interamerican highway to Piedras Blancas and then the 245 towards Puerto Jimenez, taking a right for Drake Bay before the Rincon bridge.
2 well 3 questions!
1. How long should it take in a 4×4 to get from Pilon/pavones to Puerto Jimenez?
2. From Pilon/Pavones to Drake Bay?
3. We are travelling with a 4 year old and a 1 year old…are we being foolish?!
We have been told that it would take just under 2 hours to get from PJ to Drake Bay, which we felt might be a litlle optimistic? Your website has been invaluable whilst planning our big trip – thank you.”
Jenn and Matt Staff answered 8 years ago
Hi BethMB,
We’re not exactly sure how long these trips would take. It could depend on a lot of variables like the condition of the road to Drake Bay, though March should be pretty dry. Also, Pavones is one of the few places we have yet to visit.
We can say that from the turnoff near Piedras Blancas, it’s about 1 hour and 20 minutes to Puerto Jimenez. And the turnoff for Drake Bay is roughly at the halfway point. We’ve never driven to Drake Bay because it has always been easier for us to park the car in Sierpe and take the shuttle boat (more info in our Drake Bay post) but that was before we had a baby. Not sure we would feel safe bringing him on the small shuttle boat this young (he is also 1), so you might not either. So I guess we would recommend asking your/a hotel/lodge in Drake Bay what they think of that drive. They will probably have the most up to date information about the road conditions. People do it and the last time we were there, we did see a few rental cars in town (4×4 of course). Sorry we couldn’t be more helpful, let us know how it works out!