San Jose Juan Santamaria SJO: the complete layover guide

Juan Santamaria is a single international terminal in Alajuela, about 20 km northwest of downtown San Jose, with gates running in one long line and the lounges sitting on an upper level above them.

The check in lobby holds 45 self service kiosks ahead of the airline counters, and security feeds you into a departures corridor that stretches from roughly gate 1 at one end to the newer gates near 19 at the other. Walking the full length takes under 10 minutes. Domestic carriers Sansa and Costa Rica Green Airways use a separate small terminal a short walk to the left as you exit the international building; if your itinerary mixes an international flight with a domestic hop, you change buildings landside and clear formalities again.

Connections here are simpler than at the big hubs because there is exactly one international building. The catch is the transfer screening. Costa Rica applies its liquids directive to transfer checkpoints as well as primary ones, which means anything over 100 ml in your carry on gets pulled, including sealed duty free from your origin airport. Plan around that, because the staff do not make exceptions.

Timing honesty: on a single ticket with checked bags tagged through, 90 minutes is a workable connection at SJO. On separate tickets you are collecting bags, clearing immigration, and checking in fresh, so treat 3 hours as the floor. The airport also lives with afternoon weather. In the green season, roughly May through November, thunderstorms routinely stack up delays from mid afternoon, so morning connections are the safer build.

Transit passengers with connections longer than 6 hours may leave the international terminal, subject to Costa Rican immigration requirements. The airport itself points travelers to their airline for transit visa specifics, which is sound advice; verify before travel.

Downtown San Jose is about 20 km southeast and reachable in 20 to 35 minutes outside rush hour, which makes a city run realistic on a layover of 6 hours or more.

Cheapest first: the TUASA public bus stops on the main road outside the terminal, runs every 10 minutes or so, costs a dollar or two, and takes about 35 minutes into central San Jose. Official airport taxis are the orange cabs run by Taxi Aeropuerto, with downtown fares typically in the 30 to 35 dollar range. Uber operates in the San Jose area and serves the airport around the clock, usually undercutting the cabs; pickups happen near the terminal curb, and drivers will message you the exact spot. Rush hour traffic into the capital can double the drive, so for layovers under 6 hours, skip downtown and walk old Alajuela instead. The city center is barely 3 km from the terminal, with a pleasant central park, a market and real Costa Rican food at local prices.

Entry is straightforward for most visitors. Citizens of the US, Canada, the UK and the EU enter visa free as tourists, and Costa Rica raised the maximum stay for that group from 90 to 180 days in late 2025, at the immigration officer's discretion. You need a passport valid for your stay and proof of onward travel. Requirements vary by nationality; verify before travel.

For an overnight, the Hampton by Hilton San Jose Airport is the obvious move: it sits just across the highway from the terminal, about 5 minutes door to door, with a free shuttle, a pool and breakfast included. Several other chain and boutique options cluster within a 10 minute ride around Alajuela and the City Mall area. Booking the Hampton beats any attempt at a free night in the terminal, and we say that as people who have tried the benches. How to spend the hours either way is mapped in the SJO layover guide.