Is A Car Rental Necessary To Get To Bodhi Surf + Yoga?

“How do we get to you?” — is a question we often hear in early email communication with our future guests. There are many answers to that question, because once in Costa Rica, there are various ways to get to us; what you choose will depend on your travel style and budget.

For the Bodhi Sessions, our week-long yoga and surf camps, we have opted to include shuttle transportation from San Jose to our surf lodge in Bahia Ballena. Our Bodhi Sessions have many aims, such as teaching our guests how to surf, helping them improve their yoga practice, sharing information about our little town and facilitating positive (and adventurous) experiences in our unique area. For those reasons, we want our guests to arrive to us rested and focused, and ready for a week full of activity! Providing a stress-free transfer is conducive to helping achieve these goals.

Why we opted for shuttle transportation

For an experienced driver, renting a car in Costa Rica may be no big deal. However, if you have never driven internationally, it can be hair-raising. Costa Rica is famous because it does not use the street address system — many roads are unmarked, meaning you either need to know where you’re going or you need very detailed instructions. In addition, there can be many inconveniences when driving in Costa Rica because roads are often closed with little to no notice, which requires you to backtrack and take an alternate route. In addition, Google Maps and other GPS services have a tendency to be undependable, meaning they are accurate sometimes and for some routes, but are inaccurate for others.

Due to the above-mentioned reasons, our guests typically arrive hours after they were supposed to be here. With only a week in Costa Rica, losing that much time can be downright frustrating, and it may cut into your surf, yoga, or free time. For us at Bodhi Surf + Yoga, a solution to this problem has been to provide shuttle transportation that picks you up right at the airport and drops you off at the Bodhi Surf Lodge, and vice versa when it’s time to leave.

Also, ride-sharing is a more environmentally-friendly option, something that is very important to both us and our guests!

How to get around in Bahia Ballena

There are several options for getting around once in Bahia Ballena, which depend on factors such as what you want to achieve during your Bodhi Session, how you want to spend your free time, and how much you want to spend.

• For those who are most interested in improving their surfing ability and yoga practice, who want to spend their down-time at the beach or at the lodge, and who are on a budget, you really don’t need anything aside from your two feet. Rides are provided to and from surf sessions, yoga is on premises, and there are many restaurants and activities that you can get to on foot.
• If you want a little more mobility and are willing to spend a bit more, you can rent a bike which makes travel faster and provides access to more places.
• If budget is not an issue and you want to make the most of every minute in Costa Rica, you can rent a car once in the Uvita area (either for a few days or the entirety of your trip) which allows you to access the entire Costa Ballena area and check out other attractions and restaurants.

Our desire is that you get to us happy, relaxed, and ready for a week of learning and fun in the sun, which is why we’ve chosen to include shuttle transportation from San Jose-Bahia Ballena-San Jose. But it’s important to note that there are several options for getting around once you’re here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga in Bahia Ballena, Costa Rica!