{"response": {"Key": "TPA-CR", "orig": {"code": "TPA", "type": "airport", "city": "Tampa", "fullCity": "Tampa, Florida", "airport": "Tampa Intl Airport"}, "dest": {"code": "CR", "type": "country", "country": "Costa Rica"}, "faq": {"q0": {"question": "Which cities in Costa Rica can I fly to from Tampa?", "answer": "From Tampa you will typically fly into San Jose or Liberia. San Jose is the capital and a hub for exploring the central valley and Pacific coast, while Liberia gives quicker access to Guanacaste beaches. Non-stop flights are limited, so most itineraries involve a connection in Miami or Atlanta."}, "q1": {"question": "How long is the flight from Tampa to Costa Rica?", "answer": "From Tampa to San José, non-stop flights typically take about 3 hours 15 minutes to 3½ hours southbound and roughly 3½ hours northbound. One-stop itineraries to Liberia or San José usually run 5 to 7 hours total depending on the connection."}, "q2": {"question": "Are there direct flights from Tampa to Costa Rica?", "answer": "There are no non-stop flights from Tampa to Costa Rica. The most common one-stop routings connect through San José or Liberia via hubs such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Houston or Atlanta, with total travel times typically between 5 and 8 hours depending on the layover."}, "q3": {"question": "Which airlines fly from Tampa to Costa Rica?", "answer": "From Tampa to Costa Rica you can fly nonstop on JetBlue or Southwest, or connect via Atlanta on Delta, Houston on United, or Miami on American."}, "q4": {"question": "When is the cheapest time to fly from Tampa to Costa Rica?", "answer": "The cheapest months to fly from Tampa to Costa Rica are May, April, and June, with May typically offering the lowest fares. Tuesdays tend to be the cheapest day of the week and afternoon departures usually cost less, while peak summer and major holidays like December drive prices up. For the best deal, book about 9 to 12 weeks ahead.", "methodology": "This 'good deal' estimate shows a representative best price for each departure date across roughly a 12-month window (about 3 months back and 9 months forward). It is built from real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, accumulated into a price history for each departure date. Rather than weighting all of that history equally, we apply exponential time decay so recent prices dominate — a price seen yesterday counts almost in full, one from about a month ago roughly a third, and prices from a few months back very little — giving a figure that tracks today's market instead of a stale long-run average. Clear price outliers are removed before any calculation, departure dates with no observations are filled in from nearby dates, and the resulting curve is lightly smoothed so it reads as a clean seasonal trend rather than day-to-day noise. This booking-window guidance is built from the same real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, re-grouped by how many days before departure each price was seen (from the departure day out to about 180 days ahead) across the route's price history. At each booking lead time we report the 25th-percentile price — the cheaper end of what travelers were quoted, rather than the rock-bottom minimum (which can be a fluke) or the average (which is pulled up by expensive last-minute fares). The buy-or-wait advice then applies a risk premium that grows as departure approaches, since seat availability shrinks and prices become less predictable; using that adjusted curve we flag windows where waiting is likely to save a meaningful amount (at least $20 or 5%) versus windows where booking now is the better call. Isolated single-day recommendations are filtered out, so the advice only reflects a window that holds for several days in a row. The cheapest day of the week and time of day to depart are drawn from the same large sample of real fares Priceline users found on this route in the last 72 hours, grouped by the day of the week and by the time-of-day window of the outbound departure, with the lowest and average price reported for each."}, "q5": {"question": "How far in advance should I book flights from Tampa to Costa Rica?", "answer": "For flights from Tampa to Costa Rica, the optimal booking window is about 9 to 12 weeks before departure, when fares average around $444.", "methodology": "This booking-window guidance is built from the same real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, re-grouped by how many days before departure each price was seen (from the departure day out to about 180 days ahead) across the route's price history. At each booking lead time we report the 25th-percentile price — the cheaper end of what travelers were quoted, rather than the rock-bottom minimum (which can be a fluke) or the average (which is pulled up by expensive last-minute fares). The buy-or-wait advice then applies a risk premium that grows as departure approaches, since seat availability shrinks and prices become less predictable; using that adjusted curve we flag windows where waiting is likely to save a meaningful amount (at least $20 or 5%) versus windows where booking now is the better call. Isolated single-day recommendations are filtered out, so the advice only reflects a window that holds for several days in a row. Stop counts, connecting hubs, and per-airline prices are drawn from a large sample of the real fares Priceline users found on this route in the last 72 hours. We group those fares by number of stops, by the hub airport a connection routes through, and by operating airline, and report each group's share of the sample alongside its lowest and median price. Airlines and weekly frequencies are compiled from our flight-schedule database, which combines published airline timetables, U.S. government schedule data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), and observed flight operations from the EUROCONTROL/OpenSky Open Performance Data Initiative (OPDI). We count each operating carrier's scheduled weekly departures and the days it flies; where there is no nonstop service, connecting carriers are identified by linking scheduled nonstop segments through common hub airports. Where a median fare is shown for a carrier, it reflects the real fares Priceline users found on this route in the last 72 hours."}, "q6": {"question": "What are the most popular cities to visit in Costa Rica?", "answer": "In Costa Rica, most travelers head to San José as the arrival hub, then explore the Arenal area for volcanoes and hot springs, the Pacific beaches of Guanacaste, the cloud forests of Monteverde and the Caribbean coast around Puerto Viejo."}, "q8": {"question": "Which airports in Costa Rica are best to fly into from Tampa?", "answer": "From Tampa to Costa Rica, San José Juan Santamaría is the primary gateway with the most flight options and easy access to domestic buses and shuttles. Liberia Daniel Oduber works better if you are heading straight to Guanacaste beaches and resorts, often with nonstop seasonal flights."}, "q12": {"question": "When is the best time of year to visit Costa Rica?", "answer": "For Costa Rica, the dry season from December to April offers sunny days but is busiest and priciest. The green season from May through mid-November sees lower prices and fewer tourists, with sunny mornings and afternoon showers common."}, "q13": {"question": "How do I get to Tampa Intl Airport from the city center?", "answer": "From downtown Tampa, you can reach Tampa International Airport by public bus via HART Route 30, which is the cheapest option but takes about 45 minutes. Ride‑share services like Uber and Lyft are the most popular and take 15‑20 minutes in light traffic, while taxis are readily available but often cost a bit more. Several shared‑ride shuttle companies also serve the airport, and driving yourself is straightforward with ample on‑site parking garages, though daily rates add up for longer trips.", "toolsUsed": ["article_lookup"], "references": [{"url": "https://www.airport.guide/ktpa", "title": "Tampa Airport (TPA) | Terminal maps | Airport guide", "time_published": "2026-04-16T00:00:00Z"}, {"url": "https://airport.guide/ktpa/parking", "title": "Tampa Airport (TPA) Parking Rates and Map", "time_published": "2026-02-05T00:00:00Z"}, {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_Executive_Airport", "title": "Tampa Executive Airport", "favicon": "https://en.wikipedia.org/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png", "time_published": "2026-07-07T22:51:55Z"}, {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_Padang_Airport", "title": "Tampa Padang Airport", "time_published": "2026-07-05T21:06:08Z"}, {"url": "https://airport.guide/ktpa/rental-cars", "title": "Tampa Airport (TPA) | Car Rental"}]}}}}