Caracas Airport to ciudad Bolivar - Straight away!

Hi guys,

i will be arriving in caracas at about 15:30 pm on a Monday. I am trying to head directly to ciudad bolivar by bus, trying to spend as few time in caracas as possible. What do you recommend to do this? I was thinking about taking the airport shuttel into caracas and then jump onto a night bus with rodovias.

I know the terminal de oriente handles all the buses to the east part of the country, but as far as i understands takes it quit a litte time to get to this terminal? First the shuttle into caracas, then by metro out of the inner city and from there i still have to walk a little to finally arrive at the bus station and then it'll already be dark and about 8 pm?

Any suggestions are very appreciated.

Greets,

Alex

Don't even think about crossing Caracas after dark with your luggage from the airport. Best to get a local bus to Macuto just along the coast, to a Posada there for the night, and tackle the crossing of Caracas after the morning rush hour next day.( Local bus back from Macuto, then Airport shuttle (15 Bolivares) into Caracas.) Even then, keep all valuables in a bodybelt securely away from pickpockets, who work in teams, and are very good at it. I lost my wallet there last Monday, and chased the "thief" who was running away down the platfom on the metro. He turned out to be an "innocent" person, more, I suspect a decoy, while the true thief walked calmly away in the other direction.
One of the help desks in the Airport can probably phone a posada in Macuto to book you in for the night. The local bus is easy, non threatening and CHEAP (less than 2 Bolivares) to Macuto. On the upper roadway between the National and International terminals you will see a small road with pedestrians using it, which leads out onto the main dual carriageway. Cross the blue metal footbridge to the Eastbound carriageway, and the bus, marked Macuto stops right there. Macuto has plenty of Posadas and eateries, and is ok at night.
Alternatively you can catch a plane to Ciudad Bolivar direct from National terminal, only 400 meres walk from International and cut out all the intermediate stages and danger altogether!
There are plenty of black market moneychangers in the airport (most of the staff, it seems) and you should get 4 Bolivares to the dollar at least, rather than 2 in the official Cambios.

If you arrive more or less on time you should be able to catch a night bus the same day.

Take the shuttle from the national airport to the city. Stay inside the shuttle until the last stop, which is at an underbridge right next to Parque Central. From there you can take a taxi to a (private) bus terminal. One is quite close to Parque Central (don't remember the name, but it might be Rodovias). Actually, when I did that, the shuttle brought me right to the terminal. not sure whether that is his normal route. might be worth asking the driver though.

Hanging around the private terminal at night is easy and there is also some food available. Buses leave at around 8-9pm and there are several going to Ciudad Bolivar, it should be easy to get a seat on a monday.

For your information: It gets dark straight at 6 straight, not at around 8 :-)