Costa Rica
A city-trip to Liberia

A city-trip to Liberia

Last Friday I had my first day off and I decided to spend the day in Liberia. Liberia is the capital of Guanacaste, a province in Costa-Rica. When I traveled to Costa-Rica I also flew to Liberia as it is only around 40 minutes from Playa Del Coco by taxi. This time, I decided to take the bus to enjoy a 1 day city-trip in Liberia.

Taking the bus from Playa del Coco to Liberia

The bus stop is conveniently right outside the dive shop where I do my internship (Rich Coast Diving). A ticket costs 750 Colones which is $1,50 one way. As you can see the buses are modern and well-kept. I enjoyed the 1-hour drive to Liberia a lot, you could open a window and just enjoy looking around the dry but interesting landscape of Guanacaste.

Inside the bus to LiberiaNowhere on the bus stops you’ll find a time schedule, fortunately I was able to find my information online after some serious googling. This is the timetable I could find and seems to be correct.

Playa del Coco to LiberiaPlaya del Coco - Liberia
Departures at: 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 09:30, 11:00, 13:30 and 16:00

Liberia to Playa del Coco
Departures at: 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 09:30, 11:00, 13:30 and 16:00

Travel time: Approx: 1 hour (each way). 

It’s worth noting that the last bus to Playa del Coco leaves at 16:00 (4 PM). It’s good I noted that because my Dutch-ness would have assumed there would be a much later bus.

You can get off the bus in Liberia just before a major intersection or at the bus terminal. I got off just before the intersection and could directly make my way walking down the main street.

The city-trip to Liberia

If you get off at the intersection you directly face a shopping mall with some small shops. You cross the intersection which brings you immediately on the main street. The main street in Liberia is called AV 1. There are banks and major supermarkets all on this street as well as smaller local shops.  I had several reasons for my Liberia visit. First of all, I was curious about a bigger Costa-Rican town. Fabric shopAnother reason was to buy some things that were unavailable in Playa del Coco or more expensive. The thing about Playa del Coco is that many expats are located in the area, causing prices to rise for everyday stuff. One of the things I really wanted to get were extra sheets or curtains, something to cover my windows with. I successfully managed to find a shop where they sold fabrics, very much like the shops in The Netherlands. The only difference I could really find was that with the “left-over fabrics” a kilogram price charged. I.e. I bought 500 grams of fabric instead of 1 meter by 2 meters or something. I was very pleased with that purchase!

After that I passed the city-park of Liberia Parque Mario Cañas Ruiz. At the east side of this park is a beautiful church that is open for visitors as well. I had a quick look inside. The only mission I had really left was to find a few things for our kitchen such as a cheese slicer, haha. I successfully managed to get that. And as a bonus, 20 minutes before my bus returned to Playa del Coco I managed to find a surf shop that sold UV50 protection shirts that can also get wet.
This first week has been rough and my shoulders had been badly burned. But this weekend was perfect! Parroquia de La Inmaculada ConcepciónPark in Liberia (Parque Mario Cañas Ruiz)So I would make those curtains and that shirt my most successful purchases so far, oh and don’t forget the cheese slicer ;).

I would highly recommend at least 1 City-Trip to Liberia, for shopping and sightseeing. I know I will go back for sure! You can just go for a couple of hours or make a full day out of it. As long as you remember the last bus back to Coco leaves at 4pm.

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