Costs Costa Rica

You have probably heard before about Costa Rica being a fairly pricey travel destination. This will also be confirmed in this blog. Still, we thought it was well worth the extra cost. So don't let it put you off! In this blog you'll read what you can expect from the costs in Costa Rica.

Currency

In Costa Rica they pay with Colones. 1 Costa Rican colon is about €0.0014. This currency does not fluctuate very much, but seems to be gradually increasing in value. Although 1 colon is worth nothing, that does not mean that everything is cheap. On the contrary! You can easily compare the prices with European and American prices. Only then you don't pay around €10 or $10, but about 7000 colon.

Costs for hotels

Costs for hotels in Costa Rica are actually quite comparable to those in PanamaOnly there is much more choice. This means you can still book a hotel room for a reasonable price if you book it on time. The more touristy the place, the more expensive the hotel rooms will be of course. In San Jose, for example, you can book a great hotel for a small price. This will cost you around €20. Further, you can easily spend between €40 and €60 for a fairly decent room. 

Last minute booking does not have any advantage, because the prices can easily rise to €100 per night. For a hotel that normally costs around €50 or €60 per night. We always tried to stay around €40 a night. But this was really not possible everywhere. Certainly the Pacific side and especially Santa Teresa and Tamarindo were a lot more expensive. In these places you can expect to pay around €60 per night. So make sure you book on time! Especially if you are going on a short trip, I would recommend that you book some hotels in advance.

Costs in Costa Rica for food

The prices for food in restaurants can depend a lot on where you eat. If you eat outside the tourist areas you can easily get a meal for a small price. You will eat as the only tourist among all the locals. But often the food is also very tasty.

Unfortunately, most areas in Costa Rica are touristy, and therefore the prices are also high. For example, we paid between €10 and €15 for breakfast. For lunch you can expect to pay from €15 to €25. And for dinner you can easily spend between €20 and €35. This is perhaps a bit cheaper than, for example, Dutch prices. Yet the costs add up so quickly. That's why we have two handy tips to save money on food when you stay in Costa Rica for a longer period of time.

Costs for transport in Costa Rica

Renting a car is very expensive in Costa Rica. You can easily pay about €1200 for a week, if you book last minute. If you are planning to travel through Costa Rica by car, make sure you book on time.

Renting a scooter is already possible for a nicer price. Depending on where you rent the scooter, the price can also differ. In Puerto Viejo , for example, we paid €20 per day for a scooter and in La Fortuna this was about €38.

A means of transport in Costa Rica that is very cheap is the bus. These prices are not at all in proportion to the rest. On average, a bus is between 2000 and 6000 colon. So this is somewhere between €2.85 and €8.50. This depends on where you are going and how long the journey takes of course.

Uber is also a relatively cheap means of transport. You can easily sit in an Uber for 30 minutes for less than €10. On average we lost between €5 and €10. Taxis, on the other hand, are a lot more expensive. Unfortunately, it is also not possible to use Uber in most places in Costa Rica. You can actually only use this in and around San Jose and Alajuela.

We used the local buses a lot and the occasional Uber to save money. But once we took a domestic flight from Tortuguero to San Jose. This flight cost €95 per person. This saves you a lot of time, but absolutely no money. 😬 It was an unforgettable experience that you can read more about later!

Costs for activities and tours in Costa Rica

There are many fun activities and tours to experience in Costa Rica. But of course this also comes with a price tag. An average tour costs about €35. Of course this also depends on what you are going to do. We thought it was more than worth it for the tours we did.

The entrance fee to various nature parks and attractions is between €10 and €20. For example, for the natural parks in Puerto Viejo they ask for a donation, where you can choose how much you want to give. Into the hanging bridges La Fortuna on the other hand, it simply costs €25 per person to enter. Fortunately, there are also a small number of activities that are simply free. You can often go hiking somewhere or visit the hot springs in La Fortuna.

Our costs in Costa Rica

Costa Rica was certainly one of the most expensive countries we have traveled to. On average, the two of us spend about €150 per day. Despite the fact that we often did our own groceries for breakfast and did almost everything by bus. But, Costa Rica was also one of our favorites, which eases the pain a bit.

Below you see an overview of our average costs per day per person. The amount for the hotel is per room, as this does not change when you are alone or in pairs.