Liberia International Airport (LIR), also known as Guanacaste Airport, is Costa Rica’s second largest airport after San Jose’s. It is located 11km southwest of the city of Liberia on the Pacific Coast.
Liberia Airport (Photo_: flip.and.serena via Flickr / CC BY 2.0)
For those people looking to rent a vehicle, the car rental desks are handily situated within the terminal building. After clearing immigrations, it’s just a short walk to the counters that are next to the baggage claim area. From here, each car rental company offers a shuttle services to their respective pick-up locations.
To determine which rental car companies offer the best vehicles across our three categories (Most Affordable, Best for Luxury, Best for Minivans), TravelMag.com carefully researched prices, availability, policies and customer reviews of the 12 car rental companies operating out of LIR. Here are our findings:
The Most Affordable: Easy Car
Whether it’s a big family school holiday or a romantic getaway, Easy Car will probably have a vehicle to suit your needs and budget. At Liberia Airport, they not only had compact cars like the Nissan Tilda and the Toyota Yaris but also SUVs like the Toyota Prado on our selected dates. Their cheapest options start off at $60 per day with unlimited mileage and, if booked through rentalcars.com, a free cancellation policy up to 48hrs before pick up. But what really impressed us most about Easy Car, and the reason it was selected as the best in this category, was the sheer quantity of positive reviews it received from the start of their operations to present day.
Best for Luxury: Sixt
Sixt took the prize for the best car rental company for luxury travellers at LIR. Its luxury fleet consists of the latest models from BMW, Geely, Mitsubishi and the icing on the cake, a Maserati Levante, – all things considered, lovers of premium cars have plenty of choice. Sixt also had the best customer rating on both rentalcars.com and Google with a score of 9.1/10 on the former and 4.9/5 on the latter. To pick up the car rental, Sixt provides a free shuttle that takes passengers to their branch located 500 metres from the terminal entrance.
Best of Minivans: amiGO Rental Car
Visitors looking to take the family on a road trip should look no further than amiGo Rental Car (take note, it’s purposefully spelt amiGO). Amongst its rental fleet, amiGO has several types of SUVs, 5 and 7-seater vans and a couple of 12-seaters like the Toyota Hiace and the impressive Hyundai H1. Apart from their office at LIR airport, AmiGO has branches in San Jose and Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast, so if you’re planning a long road trip there are several locations where you can drop the vehicle off. As is common practice in this part of the world, renters who have pre-booked will be met outside Customs by a rep holding a sign with the company and renters name on it.