Manuel Antonio National Park
One of Costa Rica's most visited national parks — white-sand beaches, jungle trails and abundant wildlife including sloths, monkeys and scarlet macaws.
XQP · MRQP · Costa Rica
Quepos La Managua Airport
Quepos — Manuel Antonio. 10 min to Manuel Antonio.
Runway
1070m
Surface
Asphalt
Elevation
9m
Hours
6am-6pm
Book your private flight to Quepos
Airport at a glance
Quepos — Costa Rica
Manuel Antonio is the most visited national park in Costa Rica, and the reason is not size — at fewer than 20 square kilometres it is one of the smallest. The reason is density. Squirrel monkeys, three-toed sloths, capuchins, iguanas and scarlet macaws occupy a compressed strip of rainforest that runs directly onto white-sand beaches, and it is entirely possible to see all of them before lunch.
Quepos La Managua Airport is how you get there without spending a morning on the coastal highway. XQP sits 26 metres above sea level on the flat ground behind Quepos town, a former banana port turned sportfishing centre, with the Fila Costeña ridge rising green behind it and the Pacific a few hundred metres to the west.
Runway 04/22, 1,100 metres by 11 metres, asphalt, at 26 metres elevation. ICAO: MRQP. Coordinates: 9°26′34″N, 84°07′47″W. Daylight operation.
Note the width: eleven metres. This is a narrow strip, typical of Costa Rica's domestic fields, and it is one of the reasons charter operations here are flown by crews with local experience. The 1,100-metre length is comfortable for the Cessna Caravan class that serves the route, and the surrounding terrain is benign compared with the mountain-flanked strips further south.
Getting there
Quepos La Managua Airport — Getting there
XQP is roughly 5 kilometres from Quepos town and about 15 minutes by road from the Manuel Antonio park entrance. The hotel corridor — and it is a genuine corridor, running along a single ridge road with the sea on one side — occupies the 7 kilometres between the two, which means almost every property in the area is within twenty minutes of the aircraft.
That compactness is what makes XQP unusually efficient. At many Costa Rican destinations, the flight saves hours and the ground transfer gives some of it back. Here it does not.
Quepos itself is worth an evening. The marina, Pez Vela, is the sportfishing centre of the central Pacific, and the restaurants along the waterfront are markedly better than the resort dining above.
The flight from San José, and why it matters more than it looks. San José to Quepos is about 22 minutes. The drive is roughly three hours — sometimes considerably more, because the Costanera Sur carries heavy traffic on weekends and the approach through Orotina and Jacó backs up predictably.
Twenty-two minutes against three hours is the sharpest short-haul ratio in the country. On a one-week itinerary with Manuel Antonio in the middle, flying both directions returns close to six hours. It is also, in practice, the route that most first-time visitors underestimate: the map suggests a manageable drive, and the road delivers something else.
XQP also connects south along the coast to Drake Bay, Palmar Sur, Puerto Jiménez and Golfito, which makes a Manuel Antonio–Osa Peninsula combination viable in a way it simply is not by road.
| San José | ~22 min | ~3 h |
Nearby
Things to do near Quepos
Manuel Antonio National Park is the anchor: four beaches, a well-marked trail network, and wildlife at close range. Book entry in advance — the park caps daily visitors and sells out in high season. Nauyaca Waterfalls, about an hour southeast towards Dominical, is among the best waterfall hikes in the country. Rainmaker Conservation Park offers canopy bridges over primary forest with a fraction of Manuel Antonio's crowds. The Damas Island mangrove estuary is excellent for early-morning boat wildlife tours. And the offshore sportfishing out of Pez Vela marina — sailfish, marlin, dorado — is world-class between December and April.
Private Catamarans — Manuel Antonio
Luxury private catamaran tours departing from Quepos — snorkeling, dolphin watching and sunset sailing along the Pacific coast.
Whale Watching — Quepos
Humpback whales visit Costa Rica's Pacific coast year-round — private boat tours from Quepos into the Marine Ballena corridor.
Luxury Villas — Manuel Antonio
Exclusive villa stays perched above Manuel Antonio's jungle — private pools, concierge service and panoramic Pacific Ocean views.
Deep Sea Fishing — Quepos Offshore
Offshore sport fishing from Marina Pez Vela — 100-mile express boats targeting blue marlin and sailfish in the blue water beyond the Quepos canyon. Quepos holds more IGFA world records than almost anywhere on Earth.
Helicopter — Corcovado Aerial Tour
Private helicopter expedition from Quepos over Manuel Antonio's coastline and deep into the Osa Peninsula — aerial views of Corcovado's primary rainforest, waterfalls and deserted Pacific beaches inaccessible by any other means.
Extreme Zipline & Rappel — Manuel Antonio
The most technical zipline circuit in Manuel Antonio — eight cables up to 1.2km in length with Tarzan swings, rappels into river canyons and a final free-fall that drops over the Pacific-facing rainforest canopy.
Private Surf — Boca Barranca & Estero Negro
Boca Barranca is Costa Rica's longest left-hand river-mouth wave — a grinding barrel that can hold shape for over 300m on the right swell. Private boat access from Quepos to this and the nearby Estero Negro break, guided by a local who has surfed both since childhood. Video session, cold drinks and a post-surf ceviche on the boat.
When to fly
When to fly
The central Pacific is properly wet in the green season. From May to November — and especially in September and October, the wettest months on this coast — mornings are typically clear and bright, with heavy convective cloud building from midday and storms through the afternoon. The dry season, December to April, is reliable and hot.
For XQP specifically, the morning rule is not advice, it is planning. Afternoon arrivals into the central Pacific in the green season carry real weather risk, and the aircraft that serve this field operate visually.
From $960
Fly from XQP to
Cóbano · 34 min · $1,636Drake Bay · 31 min · $1,741Golfito · 40 min · $2,020La Fortuna · 37 min · $1,559Liberia · 54 min · $2,467Limón · 40 min · $1,930Nosara · 49 min · $2,130Palmar Sur · 30 min · $1,662Pérez Zeledón · 20 min · $1,283Puerto Jiménez · 40 min · $2,035San José (Pavas) · 23 min · $960San José · 24 min · $1,279Tamarindo · 56 min · $2,340Tambor · 33 min · $1,570Tortuguero · 41 min · $1,715Upala · 51 min · $2,077
FAQ
Quepos La Managua Airport — Frequently asked questions
What is the runway length at Quepos (XQP)?
1,100 metres by 11 metres of asphalt, runway 04/22, at 26 m elevation. ICAO: MRQP.
How far is XQP from Manuel Antonio National Park?
About 15 minutes by road. Quepos town is roughly 5 km from the airport, and the Manuel Antonio hotel corridor lies between the two.
How long is the flight from San José to Quepos?
Roughly 22 minutes by charter, compared with about three hours by road via the Costanera.
Can I fly from Quepos to the Osa Peninsula?
Yes. XQP connects by charter to Drake Bay, Palmar Sur, Puerto Jiménez and Golfito, making a central Pacific–Osa itinerary practical.
When is the best time to fly to Quepos?
December to April is the dry season. In the green season, morning departures are strongly recommended — afternoon convective weather is routine on this coast.
Does XQP handle night flights?
No. Operations are daylight and visual.