Puntarenas >> La Fortuna (via San Ramon)
In order to get from Puntarenas to La Fortuna, you must first pass through San Ramon. Buses from Puntarenas to San Ramon leave from the Empresarios Unidos terminal on the east end of the Paseo de los Turistas on the corner with 4th street across from the Banco Popular. There are two options: the direct bus and the indirect bus. The indirect bus costs $1.320CRC ($2.65 USD) and drops you off about a block and a half from the main bus terminal in San Ramon in about an hour and a half. The direct bus (which goes on to San Jose) drops you off at the turnoff into San Ramon and costs nearly double what you pay for the indirect. From the turnoff, you’ll be stuck taking a cab in to town. Both buses leave every hour on the hour from 4am to 1pm.
From San Ramon, you’ll need to take another bus to La Fortuna. Once you have arrived in San Ramon (preferably on the “indirecto”, letting the driver know that you’re heading to the bus terminal), you’ll have to walk about a block to the main bus terminal. From where you are dropped off, walk WITH traffic until you see a bright red “Stylos” store and look to your left. You should see buses coming and going about 25 meters down the block–this is the terminal. There are four buses daily to La Fortuna, leaving at 5am, 9am, “1pm” and “4pm”. I say “1pm” and “4pm” because they arrive around noon and leave when there appears to be enough people to fill the bus. For example, the “1pm” bus got there at 12:10 and left at 12:30. I am unsure as to whether this rule also applies to the 4pm bus, but just in case I would arrive at least an hour early. The bus from Puntarenas takes about an hour and a half, so if you want to catch the 9am bus to La Fortuna I would suggest taking the bus from Puntarenas no later than 7am. It costs $2.150 CRC ($4.30 USD) and takes a little under two hours.
La Fortuna >> San Jose (direct OR via Ciudad Quesada)
Depending on when you are trying to arrive in San Jose, there are two options for getting there from La Fortuna: direct and indirect buses. The direct bus leaves twice a day at 12:45pm and 2:45pm. This bus costs $2.595 CRC ($5.20USD) and takes about 4 hours. Indirect buses (with a transfer at Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos) end up costing a little bit more, but have the potential to get you to San Jose much earlier in the day. From Fortuna, buses leave for Ciudad Quesada at 5am, 8am, 12pm and 3pm. The bus costs $1.000 CRC ($2USD) and takes about an hour. From Ciudad Quesada you’ll take another bus to San Jose. They leave regularly from 5am until 7:30pm. The second bus costs $1.880 ($3.75USD), takes about two and a half hours and drops you off at the Coca Cola terminal in San Jose.