Adventure Motorcycle Touring Through Costa Rica’s Backroads

Adventure Motorcycle Touring With Silversteed Adventures

When you imagine Costa Rica, you’ll likely picture white sand beaches, fun surf waves and exotic rainforest.

My last experience there fifteen years ago encompassed all of that, as well as lots of whitewater kayaking. What you probably didn’t imagine is how jaw-dropping and perfect the Costa Rican backroads are for adventure motorcycling.

In late May, my friend Nick Schoeps and I landed in San Jose for seven days of guided adventure motorcycle touring with Silver-steed Adventures. We’d planned to slide in just before monsoon season, but mother nature had other plans.

Silversteed Adventures

Silversteed Adventures is a two-man operation with about seven motorcycles. The company started in 2014, offering motorcycle rentals and guided tours throughout Costa Rica and Panama.

Silversteed has some awesome itineraries to choose from and can tailor trips to your group’s needs, skills and desires. Nick and I opted for the “Pura Vida Tour,” with some small modifications due to our skill levels, the weather and our desire to find surf. Our tour started and finished with travel days, while packing in five full days of two-wheeled adventure.

Silversteed is a full-service guide company that takes care of airport transfers, hotels, breakfasts, lunches and fuel. You’re responsible for air travel, dinners and any extra excursions you might want to indulge in.

“AFTER DESCENDING THE MOUNTAIN, WE HOPPED ON THE HIGHWAY AND MUSCLED OUR WAY THROUGH THE URBAN SPRAWL AND CONGESTION OF SAN JOSE. LANE SPLITTING AND RIDING ON THE SHOULDER IN TRAFFIC ARE JUST PART OF MOTORCYCLING IN COSTA RICA.”

The Motorcycles

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is Silversteed’s moto of choice. Under my 6’3” frame, it is tiny, especially compared to my personal steed, a KTM 950 Adventure. Nick’s about 5’10” and rides a Yamaha 250 at home, so the “Wee-Strom,” as it’s known, was a big step up for him.

While not particularly exciting, the VStrom 650 is super easy to ride, extremely reliable and a good compromise to handle a wide range of terrain. It is about perfect for the combination of gravel, mud, potholes and glassy pavement that you’ll experience across Costa Rica.

“THE PURA VIDA TOUR GIVES YOU THE MOST DIVERSE COSTA RICA ADVENTURE YOU CAN REASONABLY FIT INTO FIVE PLUS DAYS OF RIDING.”

Silversteed has upgraded their fleet with several key modifications. They run a 70/30 street biased tire to best handle the wide range of conditions you’ll encounter. An upgraded skid plate is also fitted, which we put to the test when encountering many hidden rocks in murky stream crossings.

The motorcycles are also fitted with custom-made hard aluminum panniers. The boxes are bolted-on, making them more secure over your normal removable pannier setup; however, they do require you to empty the contents each night at your hotel, as opposed to just carrying in the removable pannier. Everything is a compromise in moto life.

Getting There

The first day of the adventure is a long travel day. Nick and I flew in from different parts of the US, but luckily the travel gods shined brightly upon us, as we had no delays and landed mere minutes apart.

It was evening time: hot, humid and raining. Our guide and co-owner of Silversteed Adventures, Chad Groff, picked us up and drove us through the congested evening city traffc to a nice little hotel on the outskirts of the San Juan metropolis. The onsite restaurant provided much needed sustenance and cold beverages while we decompressed from a long day of travel and got to know our guide.

Taking Off On Two Wheels

An early start saw us reviewing our route over breakfast. It’s full of waterfalls, volcanoes, beaches and a wide mix of paved, gravel and dirt roads. The Pura Vida Tour gives you the most diverse Costa Rica adventure you can reasonably ft into fve plus days of riding.

The air is thick, but it’s not raining. We pack and repack our panniers, getting accustomed to our new two-wheeled friends. We take a quick few laps around the hotel parking lot getting use to our fully loaded adventure steeds, before blasting onto the busy Costa Rican roads. Luckily, we quickly leave the congestion of the city behind as we cruise up into the mountains towards La Fortuna.

“IT WAS A CHALLENGING RIDING FOR US ALL, ESPECIALLY AS DARKNESS FELL. IT WAS NICK’S FIRST TIME RIDING IN THE RAIN, SO HE WAS PROBABLY THE MOST GRATEFUL WHEN WE ARRIVED AT OUR STUNNING MOUNTAINSIDE HOTEL FOR THE NIGHT.”

Into The Mountains

After checking out a few roadside waterfalls,  we stop at a massive 230-plus foot fall. It’s a multi-hundred-step descent into a jungle canyon to stand at the base of this behemoth, but the views are worth the effort. While we did it in moto riding boots, I’d suggest swapping out to more comfortable footwear for the steep hike.

After a quick lunch, we continued our carving assault on the curvy mountain roads. We were about 15 km from our hotel when the deluge began. We timed it perfectly and rolled under the tin roof of a gas station as the rain started. After a nap, some coffee, and the better part of an hour we accepted the inevitable. We suited up as best we could for the intense rain and pressed onward.

It was a challenging ride, especially as darkness fell. It was Nick’s first time riding in the rain, so he was probably the most grateful when we arrived at our stunning mountainside hotel for the night. In a matter of minutes, the boutique hotel room became a yard sale of drenched moto gear.

The hot indoor/outdoor shower was pure heaven as we cleaned up before heading out to dinner. We took a cab into town and had one of the best meals of the trip, and one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had—at a place with a name I can’t remember.

“THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH TIME TO EXPLORE AMAZING DIVERSE INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS LIKE COSTA RICA.”

From Volcano To The Beach

After a short night of sleep, we got another early start. Too much to see and never enough time! We refuel at the hotel restaurant with the typical Tico breakfast: rice, beans, eggs and toast.

The rain had stopped, but the humid mountainside jungle hadn’t allowed our gear to dry much. Motivated by the sunshine and clear skies outside, we slid our feet into squishy moto boots and rode to Lake Arenal.

We took off on an all dirt route around the lake, stopping a few times for photos and a quick swim. The lake and volcano views are truly spectacular! Sadly, about half way around the lake, a sizeable river with good fows stopped us in our tracks. We retraced our path and hit the fowing glassy smooth pavement on the road around the north side of the lake.

We stopped for lunch at a nice road-side coffee plantation café. Once again, torrential rains started to fall from the sky, and we settled into the café to wait it out. It let up after a while but showed no signs of stopping. Light rain doused us as we descended the mountains across the top of the Nicoya Peninsula.

The rain stopped just as we rolled into the small ocean side tourist town of Samana for the night. The nightly program of hanging up gear to dry, warming up in a hot shower, enjoying a cold beer or two, exploring the town on foot while searching for a good dinner spot and hitting the pillow for a well-earned night’s rest commenced.

Going Deep

After a quick surf check, in which no waves were found, we enjoyed breakfast at the small local bakery. We talked strategy for the day, as it had rained all night and the forecast predicted another wet one. Not normally an issue. But this day’s planned route had us traveling down the Nicoya Peninsula on small dirt roads that crossed many rivers, which were sure to be flooding.

We all agreed to attempt the most direct route down the coast as planned, versus the four-plus hour backtrack to a high-way. With thunder booming overhead and torrential rains falling from the skies, we were quickly second-guessing our optimism. We even stopped to ask locals if they had any information on the road ahead. They all just shrugged and said, “Try it.” We aren’t ones to back down from a challenge, so we pressed onward.

The first steam crossing was forty-feet wide with thigh-high turbulent chocolate-milk colored water. Smooth large river rocks lurked below the surface and continually moved around under the weight of our loaded motorcycles. In order to optimize our crossing success, we helped each other across. One person would pilot the motorcycle while the others walked along side ensuring the bike stayed upright in the fast-moving current.

After many more “fun” river crossings, plenty of deep muddy roads and a few detours, we eventually made it to the bustling surf town of Santa Theresa. We weren’t sure if mother nature was rewarding us or mocking us as the skies cleared and the sun’s last rays beamed down as we rolled up to our hotel.

After pouring the water out of our boots and eating some dinner, we “enjoyed” the local guaro, a Costa Rican cane sugar liquor. It was Nick’s first time, and I don’t think he was impressed. I have to admit that it wasn’t as good as I remembered it. You have to try it at least once, though. And the best way is a Guaro Fresca.

Back To The Mainland

Once again we awoke to find no surf in the ocean, an oddity in Costa Rica, and more rain. We rode the short distance down to the ferry back to the mainland, where we enjoyed the rain free voyage with plenty of shade and an ocean breeze to keep us cool and help dry out our gear.

A dry, fast, pavement-riding day down the coast to Playa Dominical ensued. The day was highlighted by a great seafood lunch at a busy roadside restaurant and seeing a plethora of huge crocodiles hanging out along the muddy shores of a major river. We found an impressive tree-house style open-air brewpub for dinner, and as with most of Costa Rica, the food was marginal, but the presentation, hospitality and setting were second to none.

Back To San Jose

Once again we awoke to no surf and more rain in the forecast. It’s a long ride back to San Jose, and we had two options, a more direct mostly off-road route or the slightly longer curvy paved route. We opted for a day of paved mountain carving, as the heavy rains had taken their toll on the dirt roads and on our energy levels.

After some exciting close calls with oncoming traffic encroaching on our lane, we enjoyed a fun cafeteria-style lunch at a mountain top truck stop. After descending the mountain, we hopped on the highway and muscled our way through the urban sprawl and congestion of San Jose. Lane splitting and riding on the shoulder in traffic are just part of motorcycling in Costa Rica. Motorcycles are truly the way to travel in the country, as we would have been sitting in traffic for hours in a 4-wheeled vehicle.

We arrived unscathed at the first hotel of the trip to decompress and re-pack. The next morning we lucked out with a dry ride to the airport, where we left the bikes for Chad to pick up later and say our goodbyes to our host.

Never Enough Time

There is never enough time to explore amazing diverse international destinations like Costa Rica. Nick and I knew that the moto adventure wouldn’t offer us quite enough time to fit in some of the adventures we knew we wanted to experience in the country, so we stayed for an extra four days.

We rented the tiniest and cheapest, about $8/day, 4WD that we could. A Suzuki Jimny was reserved, but we ended up in a Toyota Rush. The little off roader had a clunky manual gearbox and it’s 1.5L engine was absolutely gutless, but it still made us grin way more than any civilized vehicle could have.

We rallied the little Rush through the mountains. The mission was to get back down to the west coast and sneak in some more ocean time. We first dove in the waters just outside Manual Antonia National Park. Nick is an accomplished diver, but it was my first time taking the plunge. It truly is a different world down there!

The surf forecast continued to disappoint, but we did manage to sneak in a sunset surf before having to head home. We both lamented having to leave paradise, but life duties back home beckoned. Hopefully it won’t be another fifteen years before I make it back for another Costa Rican adventure.

Special Thanks: Nick and I would like to thank Silversteed Adventures for their amazing hospitality and Icon Raiden for getting us sorted with the quality riding gear to keep us safe and comfortable on this trip. Both the companies are well worth looking into for your next motorcycle adventures.