Costa Rica’s International Airports
Over 3 million tourists visited Costa Rica in 2018. Almost 2 million of them arrived by plane aboard one of the more than 15 different airlines serving Costa Rica’s two international airports; Juan Santamaria International Airport (symbol: SJO) in Alajuela, northwest of San Jose and Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport (symbol: LIR) in Liberia, Guanacaste.
The largest of the two International Airport is Juan Santamaría Airport (SJO) in Alajuela, located within the Central Valley region, approximately 20km north of Costa Rica’s capital city, San José. The San José International Airport, as it is commonly known, is the biggest airport in Costa Rica and one the busiest in the whole of Central America. Juan Santamaría Airport offers the highest number of international and domestic flights in and out of Costa Rica. For destinations such as the Caribbean coast, the Central Pacific, and all of southern Costa Rica, the San José International Airport is your best option.
If you are headed to the area of La Fortuna or Monteverde, you can fly to either the San José Airport or the Liberia Airport. Both these destinations are about the same distance from both airports.
Costa Rica’s other International Airport is the Daniel Oduber Airport (LIR), also known as the Liberia Airport, located approximately 8km from the town of Liberia in the Guanacaste area, a region with countless wild paradisaical beaches surrounded by lush tropical forest. The Liberia Airport is the airport of choice to access destinations in the northwestern Pacific region. If you are headed to the sandy beaches of Guanacaste, you will want to fly into the Liberia International Airport.
During the high season, between November and April, many airlines offer direct flights to Costa Rica. These flights leave from major cities in Canada, such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, from various cities in the USA, as well as from Mexico City in Mexico.