Costa Rica is one of the most visited Central American countries. It is a perfect destination to chill couple of days on the beach, enjoy local coffee or hike remote national parks. Here is my collection of tips for planning Costa Rica trip.
TIPS FOR PLANNING COSTA RICA TRIP.
Costa Rica is not cheap.
While you can get cheap airline tickets and sometimes cheap hotel, the average price for a simple meal is around 10-15$. If you are looking for a fancier dining option, be ready to spend 60-80$ per couple including drinks. National park tickets range between 10 and 25$ per person, not per car.
The weather can change several times a day.
Always pack rain jacket if staying dry is important for you.
US dollars accepted almost everywhere.
While US dollars used virtually everywhere, the prices in colones are a little bit cheaper than in US dollars. So, Stop by currency exchange and get some colones.
You cannot bring fresh produce into the country
That include fruits and vegetables into the country. So, if you have couple of fresh apples in you backpack, Agricultural inspection will require you to discard (or eat) those. This is a general rule at least if you are passing the Agricultural inspection in the airport. I have noticed however that agricultural inspection is way less strict for pedestrian border crossing. When I was coming back to Costa Rica from Nicaragua, I had a freshly sliced coconut in a clear plastic bag that passed agricultural inspection no problem.
All gas stations in Costa Rica are full service.
As usual, tips are appreciated.
Park hours of operation change without a prior notice.
Parks might close without prior notice, so always have plan B. Also, keep in mind the fact that even though the park is open it doesn’t mean that all the trail are open. For example, La Cangreja waterfall trail closes around noon(sometimes noon, sometimes 12.30pm) as it takes on average 4 hours to hike it roundtrip; Ricon De La Vieja park open until 8am-4pm. The hours vary depend on the season and weather conditions.
Get a basic idea of direction before hitting the road.
Look at the map, know the basic turns. In this case if everything else fails, you will still have a general sense on where to make your turns.
Download offline maps.
The cell phone reception is close to non-existing in the mountains, so online Google maps won’t work.
Use Google offline map, not GPS!
I cannot stress it enough that people should not trust GPS in Costa Rica. In a matter of fact, do not even rent GPS from car rental companies. We used GPS initially to drive from Liberia, where we rented a car to Ricon De la Vieja Park. The first 15 mins were uneventful as we were driving toward mountains and then GPS suggested to ” turn right onto unpaved road”. My girlfriend wasn’t keen on the idea of driving unpaved road for 40 miles at all. But not me! I was totally confident driving the bumpy road even though we did not see a single car going in any direction. The road was super uneven, it reminded me one-hour drive to Longorossi Gate or Kilimanjaro park. It was until we got into narrow canyon with no visibility my confidence level start slowly going down. Eventually, an hour later we made it to the park, and both agreed to never “turn onto unpaved road “again. So, please follow google map instead.
Do not let the rain change your plans.
You can plan for everything except the weather, so put a rain jacket on and keep exploring, you won’t regret. For us, it was raining all three days we were in Guanacaste. But the rain did not stop us from visiting Montaverde reserve, Ricon De La Vieja, BIjagua hanging bridges and Rio Celeste waterfall. Rain also bring colors, so your pictures will turn out great.
