Driving to Costa Rica

Hi all new to this forum am looking to drive to Costa Rica in January and was trying to find out about the possibilities of getting a group of vans together . Does anyone know of a blog or spot to find out info ? Or is anyone interested ?

Hey-o!

I’d definitely be interested in a trip like that, but I’m far from ready, especially by January.

I’m not sure where you are starting from, but I do remember there is some big event where they travel from Northern Cali (or somewhere in Cali anyway) all the way down to somewhere in Mexico. I think it’s a big VW camper event? But from what I remember reading, more than just VW’s make the trip. I’ll have to try and find the name/link to it again, but supposedly it’s normally over like 100 people that go with that group.

But, I’d imagine people from that large of a group, you’d probably be able to find some travel buddies willing to go further south with ya.

I’ll try to find that link and come back with it, but off the top of my head I can’t remember. Anyone else ever seen that event / have a link?

You cannot actually drive to Costa Rica from the US. There is a spot near the Panama Canal called the Darién Gap that you cannot drive across. From there you have to get your ride on a container ship or something similar. I don’t know the logistics but I believe it’s a bit expensive.

Hi Betty, Costa Rica borders Panama to the north. it is in Central America.

Yeah, you are 100% correct on this. I though it was much further south. That being said we are looking at traveling to south, but we are looking at Baja and heading toward cabo san lucs. We are planning to attempt crossing here in the next few days or nearer to xmas eve.

I think this might be easier to achieve. From what I read you need to obtain - Mexican auto insurance, which runs about $400 for 6 months (for our van which is still fairly new.) You can also print your paper work online to save time.

The only other hurdle I see is a temporary import permit. You need these to drive a car with a foreign plate in areas that are not considered “free zones”. There is a list of them online. From what I read online the free zones are the “entire baja pennensula”, part of sonora and within 25 miles of the border. It appears they are not extending these permits nor granting them right now. That is info from online and it could also be incorrect.

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