Finding your bearings in Costa Rica

Raod signs? LOL.
Locals are very helpful in that they will always try to tell you how to get there. Problem is they often don't really know and just guess and you get more lost than before.
Also they'll say "turn left at the Transito" or something as if you know where that is...

Most people use Waze here. I guess it works well once you get used to it but it always seems to get me lost! Guess it takes time to understand what she means when she says, for example, "Turn left in 50 yards" and it always seems to me it's not 50 yards at all but much less or much more...

If you're near the destination and it's a known place, and you get lost, ask anyone on the street but be aware of my first paragraph above.

If you're not near it or it's not a well known place, don't bother to ask anyone. Just look at a map and try to figure it out.

Ticos never know the names of roads. The map might say Highway 158 but if you ask ANY TIco "where is Pista numero 158?" they'll look at you like you're nuts. They'll say I don't know... where does it go to? And they'll probably know it by the "name" "old road to Palmares" or something like that... but they almost never use the number of the road nor names of roads that are on maps, and streets very rarely have street signs.

Best thing is to look at google maps before you go, print out or send yourself a copy of the map that includes the location, and just try to go by that. If you get lost, sometimes if you ask someone they can help you. Asking at a gas station sometimes yields results.

Hola,

Waze and Google Maps are perfect for getting around Costa Rica, especially in the cities.

Christopher Howard
Live in Costa Rica

Most of the traveling we have done inside Costa Rica has been done via bus or shuttle so we relied on the expertise of the drivers.  Not all though.  The few times we rented transportation we did print off our travel routes through Google Maps.  They helped a great deal. I've never used GPS here. Street signs are few and far between so you have to really pay attention to your surroundings.  Asking for directions has never worked out very well for us.  People have been friendly when we asked for help.  Just not very effective. One last thing.  You may have excellent directions to where you are going; however, the roads that will get you there can be absolutely in need of repair and can be dangerous if they are passable. Many roads in the vicinity of where I live in Montezuma are hardly roads at all.  Not paved, very rocky and can be extremely slippery.  Use extreme caution, take your time.

Traveling on the rural 'roads' using WAVE or Google, would be of no help whatsoever,  if you lose service from the 'net. Suggest you always travel with a paper map, too. 

After living here for three years, I think that I know my way around pretty well. If I need to go somewhere, where I haven't been, I use Google maps.

I did use waze once in the back country and it actually got me to where I was going, supplemented by asking someone when I got close. As koholerias said, though, in many cases it may not work out in the back country. (tip: you can set your waze to use data if you need to.)
( Also I haven't tried this but someone told me if you set your Directions (i.e. set home base and where you want to go ahead of time, it will work without wifi to get you to that one place if you have location enabled. Not sure, maybe it is using Data? Don't know, really, because I've only used it a few times.)

We got lost several times trying to rely on Google maps or Waze.  The homicidal maniac that is Waze actually tried to drown me in Lake Arenal a couple times by directing me to drive through someone's fence and yard.  I gave up listening to her scream "turn left, make a U-turn, turn right" and excommunicated the witch from my phone and decided to rely on maps and road signs for the duration.  Yes, there are occasional signs, so we eventually got to La Fortuna.

Google maps then later directed me to what appeared to be a crack house in a barrio near Puntarenas.  I just asked a couple police ladies if they could direct me to the "address" given by the Airbnb host.  My half dozen words of Spanish was more than they spoke English,  but they texted somebody that texted back in English "follow the patrol" and that worked out.

There are no addresses in the Costa Rica I've traveled.  You have to get used to things like "the green gate 50 meters west of auto lavado" or "100 meters north of the church of whatever".  Can't wait to get back and get lost again.

Thank you Priscilla for the information.