Arrival and Information
Of the two roads from the capital to Puerto Limon, the Guapiles Highway (Hwy-32) is one of the best maintained in the country, and will get you to Puerto Limon in around three hours. The narrower and older Hwy-10, often called the Turrialba Road , runs through Turrialba on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Central; it's considered dangerous and difficult to drive, and carries very little traffic. Arriving in Limon can be unnerving at night - it's best to arrive in daylight, if only to orientate yourself. Coopelimon and Coopecaribenos buses do the San Jose-Limon trip, running more or less hourly from 5am to 7pm. You should buy your ticket in advance if travelling to Limon for Carnaval, although extra buses are laid on. Buses come into town from San Jose along Av 1, parallel to the docks and the old railroad tracks, pulling in at C 2, Av 1/2. Arrivals from the south - Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Panama (via Sixaola) - terminate at the Transportes MEPE stop at C 3, Av 4, 100m north of the mercado. Buses to Moin leave from beside Soda La Estrella at C 5, Av 3-4. For information , you'll need to contact the San Jose ICT (tel 223-1733), as there's no official tourist office in the entire province. The Banco de Costa Rica, on Av 2, C 1, will change money , as does Scotiabank, on Av 3, C2. The correo (Mon-Fri 7.30am-5pm, Sat 8am-12pm) is at Av 2, C 4, though the mail service from Limon is dreadful - you're better off posting items from San Jose. There's Internet access at the Edutec Internet Cafe , upstairs in the Centro Plaza Caribe on Av 3, C 4. Taxis line up on the corner of Av 2, C 1. Note that during the El Dia de la Raza Carnival everything shuts for a week, including all the banks and the post office. Should you need medical care , head for Hospital Dr Tony Facio Castro (tel 758-2222), at the north end of the malecon . While Limon is not quite the mugger's paradise it's sometimes made out to be in the Highland media, standing on the sidewalk and looking lost is not recommended, nor is carrying valuables (most of the hotels in our list have safes). As opposed to other Costa Rican towns, Limon's avenidas run more or less east-west in numerical order, starting at the docks. Calles run north-south, beginning with C 1 on the western boundary of Parque Vargas, by the malecon.
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