Costa Rica travel tips

Costa Rica is an incredibly beautiful country that you really want to visit. It is however quiet pricey and it can sometimes be a bit difficult to move around the country. Don't worry, just make sure you're well prepared. To make traveling through Costa Rica easier, more fun and more affordable, we have a number of travel tips for you!

Transport

Take an Uber whenever possible. Uber is a lot cheaper and safer in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, this is almost impossible anywhere. You can only get around with an uber in and around San Jose. If you do have to take a taxi, look up or ask your hotel, for example, how much it should cost approximately. The bus, on the other hand, is even cheaper, and certainly recommended for longer stretches!

Pay by card or cash

Get cash wherever possible! ATMs do not always work and are often empty. For example, only 1 of the 5 ATMs worked for us in Santa Teresa. So always make sure you have enough cash with you. You can often not pay with your credit card at most restaurants and hotels. As a result, you also need extra cash.

Your Dutch debit card is not accepted at many banks. So if that's the case with the only bank that works, you'll have to get cash with your credit card. This always entails additional costs. For us, the banco nacional and grupo mutual banks worked best.

If you can pay with a credit card somewhere, you are often asked whether you want to pay in colones or dollars. They often prefer to receive dollars. However, this is not cheaper for us (Euros), so it is better to pay in colones. 

Simcard and internet

An e-SIM card is recommended in Costa Rica. You have to charge a kolbi SIM card as calling credit. You will go through this in no time. You can buy packs, but they don't always work well and are only available for a short time. As a foreigner you cannot get an unlimited package. Only unlimited data packages for specific apps such as tiktok and instagram are available. But as mentioned above, these do not work very well.

Don't book last minute

Although this comes at the expense of your freedom, we still recommend booking hotels or airbnb's in advance, so that you can save money. Last minute booking is simply very expensive in Costa Rica. In addition, it also ensures that you have little choice in what you can book.

It is also better to book large, well-known tourist attractions well in advance, otherwise they can be full. So if you really like to visit a specific tourist attraction, check whether you need to book in advance. If you need to, book it so you don't run the risk of it being full. We had this ourselves with the tabacon hot springs. 🙁

Look up restaurants

This may sound logical and simple, but check the prices of a restaurant in advance. The menus can often be found online in google maps. Since the restaurants can differ so much in price, it is better to look up some nice affordable restaurants in advance. Then you don't have to go through 10 expensive restaurants before you can sit down somewhere. Or you still spend more money than fits in your budget.

Do your own grocery shopping

You can often book a hotel or hostel with a shared kitchen in Costa Rica. These are also very affordable. In Costa Rica there is a big difference in price between food in the supermarket and food when you go out to eat. So do some shopping in the supermarket and prepare some meals yourself every now and then to save money!

Are you curious about more travel tips? Or do you want to read more about Costa Rica? Then read our other blogs!