Planning a Trip

Because Drake Bay is so remote, I recommend that you have a room reservation and transportation arrangements (usually arranged with your hotel) before you arrive. Most of the lodges listed here are scattered along several kilometers of coastline, and it is not easy to go from one to another looking for a room.

Tip: A flashlight and rain gear are always useful to have on hand in Costa Rica; they're absolutely essential in Drake Bay.

Getting There

By Plane -- Most people fly directly into the little airstrip at Drake Bay, although some tourists still fly to Palmar Sur: All lodges will either arrange transportation for you, or include it in their packages. Sansa (tel. 877/767-2672 in the U.S. and Canada, or 2290-4100 in Costa Rica; www.flysansa.com) flies directly to Drake Bay daily at 6 and 10:53am and 12:18, 1:10, and 2:31pm from San José's Juan Santamaría International Airport. The return flights leave Drake Bay at 7 and 11:30am and 2 and 2:30pm. The flight takes 50 minutes; the fare is $104 (£52) each way. Flights also departs San José daily at 9 and 9:30am for Palmar Sur; the fare is $94 (£47) each way.

Sansa also now has twice-daily flights between Drake Bay and Puerto Jiménez. This 25-minute flight leaves Drake Bay at 7 and 11:55am. The return flights leave Puerto Jiménez at 1:28 and 3:42pm. The one-way fare is $40 (£20).

Nature Air (tel. 800/235-9272 in the U.S. and Canada, or 2299-6000; www.natureair.com) has one direct flight to Drake Bay departing daily from Tobías Bolaños International Airport in Pavas at 8:15am. Flight duration is 40 minutes; the fare is $111 (£56) each way. Return flights leave Drake Bay at 9:05am and 3:50pm. The latter return flight is actually to Golfito, but it makes an onward connection to San José. It also has a daily flight to Palmar Sur that departs at 9am and sometimes stops at Quepos en route. The flight takes a little over an hour, and the fare is $99 (£50) each way.

If your travels take you to Drake Bay via Palmar Sur, you must then take a 15-minute bus or taxi ride over dirt roads to the small town of Sierpe. This bumpy route runs through several banana plantations and quickly past some important archaeological sites. In Sierpe you board a small boat for a 40km (25-mile) ride to Drake Bay. The first half of this trip snakes through a maze of mangrove canals and rivers before heading out to sea for the final leg to the bay. Warning: Entering and exiting the Sierpe River mouth is often treacherous; I've had several very white-knuckle moments here.

By Bus -- Tracopa-Alfaro express buses (tel. 2221-4214 or 2223-7685) leave San José daily for Palmar Norte at 5, 7, 8:30, and 10am, and 1, 2:30, and 6pm from Calle 5 between avenidas 18 and 20. Bus trips take 6 hours; the fare is $8 (£4).

You can also catch any Golfito-bound bus from this same station and get off in Palmar Norte. Once in Palmar Norte, ask when the next bus goes out to Sierpe. If it doesn't leave for a while (buses aren't frequent), consider taking a taxi .

By Taxi & Boat from Sierpe -- When you arrive at either the Palmar Norte bus station or the Palmar Sur airstrip, you'll most likely first need to take a taxi to the village of Sierpe. The fare should be around $15 (£7.50). If you're booked into one of the main lodges, chances are your transportation is already included. Even if you're not booked into one of the lodges, a host of taxi and minibus drivers offer the trip. When you get to Sierpe, head to the dock and try to find space on a boat. This should run you another $15 to $30 (£7.50-£15). If you don't arrive early enough, you might have to hire an entire boat, which usually runs around $80 to $140 (£40-£70) for a boat that can carry up to six passengers. Make sure that you feel confident about the boat and skipper, and, if possible, try to find a spot on a boat from one of the established lodges in Drake Bay.

By Car -- I don't recommend driving to Drake Bay. But if you insist, take the Interamerican Highway east out of San José (through San Pedro and Cartago) and continue south on this road. In about 3 hours you'll reach San Isidro de El General. Although you can continue on the Interamerican Highway all the way south, it is faster, smoother, and safer to turn off in San Isidro and head to Dominical, picking up the Southern Highway or Costanera Sur in Dominical. From here it's a fast and smooth shot down Palmar Norte, where you'll meet up again with the Interamerican Highway. South of Palmar take the turnoff for La Palma and Puerto Jiménez (at the town of Chacarita; it's clearly marked). Then at Rincón, turn onto the rough road leading into Drake Bay. This road fords some 10 rivers and is often not passable during the rainy season. Moreover, it only reaches into the small heart of the village of Drake Bay, though almost all of the hotels I've listed below are farther out along the peninsula, where only boats reach. In fact, the only hotels that you can actually drive up to are very basic cabins in town. For the rest, you'd have to find someplace secure to leave your car and either haul your bags quite a way or get picked up in a boat.

Departing

If you're not flying directly out of Drake Bay, have your lodge arrange a boat trip back to Sierpe for you. Be sure that the lodge also arranges for a taxi to meet you in Sierpe for the trip to Palmar Sur or Palmar Norte. (If you're on a budget, you can ask around to see whether a late-morning public bus is still running from Sierpe to Palmar Norte.) In the two Palmars you can make onward plane and bus connections. At the Palmar Norte bus terminal, almost any bus heading north will take you to San José, and almost any bus heading south will take you to Golfito.

Helping Out

If you want to help local efforts in protecting the fragile rainforests and wild areas of the Osa Peninsula, contact the Corcovado Foundation (tel. 2297-3013; www.corcovadofoundation.org) or the Friends of the Osa (tel. 2735-5756; www.osaconservation.org).

Moreover, if you're looking to really lend a hand, both of the aforementioned groups have volunteer programs ranging from trail maintenance to environmental and English-language education to sea-turtle-nesting protection programs.