Costa Rica

Why go

You come to Costa Rica for animals, and the country produces them with almost unfair ease. Howler monkeys wake you before the alarm. The dark lump in the tree outside the soda where you eat breakfast turns out to be a sloth. On the right night in Tortuguero, a green turtle the size of a coffee table drags herself up the sand to lay eggs while a guide keeps a red torch low.

Arenal's cone rises over lava fields from an eruption that lasted until 2010, and Monteverde's cloud forest drips with moss and orchids. On the Osa Peninsula, Corcovado protects some of the wildest lowland rainforest left on the Pacific side of the Americas.

It is not a bargain. Tours, lodges and restaurant meals cost close to what they would in the United States, and the colón has firmed to about ₡450 to the dollar. What you pay for is ease: paved roads between the main hubs, shared shuttles with hotel pick-up, and naturalist guides who spot what you would walk straight past.

The lay of the land

Costa Rica runs north-west to south-east between Nicaragua and Panama, with the Pacific on one side and the Caribbean on the other. Volcanic ranges form the spine. In the middle sits the Central Valley, a high basin of coffee farms and suburbs around San José, where most Costa Ricans live and almost every visitor passes through.

The main circuits fan out from the capital. La Fortuna and Arenal lie about three hours north-west by road. Monteverde sits on a ridge in the Tilarán mountains, three to four hours away. Manuel Antonio, on the Central Pacific coast, is about three hours south-west. Guanacaste, the dry north-west, has the second international airport at Liberia and the beach towns of the Nicoya Peninsula. The Caribbean coast, four to five hours east, runs from Tortuguero's canals down to Puerto Viejo near the Panama border. The Osa Peninsula, with Corcovado National Park, is the far south-west: six hours or more by road, or under an hour by small plane.

Distances look short on the map and take longer than you expect. Mountain roads, trucks and afternoon rain turn a 150-kilometre trip into a three-hour drive, so two or three bases suit a ten-day trip.

When to go

Seasons depend on which coast you are on. On the Pacific side and in the Central Valley, the dry season runs from December to April. That is high season: sun on the Guanacaste beaches, full hotels and prices at their peak over Christmas, New Year and Holy Week (21 to 28 March 2027), when Costa Rican families head for the coast too.

May to November is the green season. Mornings are often clear, afternoons bring heavy showers, and prices fall. September and October are the wettest months on the Pacific side; the weather station at Juan Santamaría airport averages 355 mm of rain in September against 6 mm in January. Each October, SINAC closes Corcovado's Sirena sector for maintenance and rain.

The Caribbean breaks the pattern. The national tourism board describes two relatively dry spells on that coast, in February and March and again in September and October. Puerto Viejo and Tortuguero are at their best exactly when the Pacific is at its wettest.

Green turtles nest at Tortuguero from July to October. Humpback whales gather off Uvita and Marino Ballena from July to October, when southern-hemisphere whales arrive, and again from December to April. Independence Day on 15 September brings school bands to every town, with lantern parades the evening before.

What it costs

Most of your money goes on tours and transport. On partner sites, a two-hour guided walk in Manuel Antonio starts at about $35 a person, and a shared shuttle seat from San José to La Fortuna costs about $55. Park entry is modest by comparison: $18.08 at Manuel Antonio, $16.95 at Arenal Volcano and about $15 plus tax at Poás and Corcovado, all bought online from SINAC.

A casado at a soda, the family-run lunch counters found in every town, costs roughly ₡4,500–6,500 and brings rice, beans, salad, plantain, a protein and often a fruit drink. Restaurant bills already include 13% VAT and a 10% service charge required by law, so you need not tip on top; guides and drivers who earn it are another matter.

Cars cost more than the quote suggests. Online rental prices often leave out the mandatory third-party liability insurance, which agencies such as Vamos add at $15.95–17.95 a day.

Getting there and around

Most flights land at Juan Santamaría International (SJO) in Alajuela, 20 to 40 minutes from central San José. Liberia's Daniel Oduber Quirós airport (LIR) sits closer to the Guanacaste beaches and saves a day of driving if you are heading to Tamarindo, Nosara or the Papagayo resorts. The US$29 air departure tax is almost always built into your fare.

From SJO, the official orange Taxi Aeropuerto cabs charge roughly ₡15,000–18,000 to San José, and Uber works too. Shared shuttles such as Interbus link the main hubs with hotel pick-up. Public buses are cheap and slow: the direct bus from San José to La Fortuna costs about ₡4,000 and takes four hours or more, and services to each coast leave from different terminals around the capital.

Sansa flies small planes from SJO to Drake Bay, Puerto Jiménez, Quepos, Tortuguero, La Fortuna, Tamarindo, Nosara and Cobano, the strip for Santa Teresa. The flights save most of a day on the long legs to the Osa and Tortuguero. Baggage limits are tight, and carry-on is capped at 4.5 kg.

Driving gives you freedom and some stress. The main routes are paved, but you want a 4x4, or at least high clearance, on the roads around Monteverde, in the Osa, on the southern Nicoya Peninsula and anywhere a river crosses the road in the rainy season. Rental contracts exclude water damage, so a river crossing is at your own risk. Use Waze, finish driving before dark, which falls around 5:30 to 6 pm all year, and never leave anything in the car.

Where to stay

Sleep in the regions, not the capital. San José works for a first or last night, and Alajuela or Heredia, closer to SJO, are easier still for early flights.

In La Fortuna, stay in town for walkable restaurants and tour pick-ups, or on the road toward the volcano for hot springs and views. Monteverde's hotels cluster around the village of Santa Elena; nights are cool and damp, so look for good blankets or heating. In Manuel Antonio, the road from Quepos climbs a ridge lined by ocean-view hotels, and families do best near the park entrance.

Guanacaste ranges from all-inclusive resorts on the Papagayo Peninsula to surf towns. Tamarindo is the most developed. Nosara and Santa Teresa are smaller, on unpaved roads that are dusty in the dry season and muddy in the wet.

On the Caribbean side, Puerto Viejo has hostels and cabinas along the coast road toward Cocles and Punta Uva, while Cahuita, about 15 km north, is quieter. In the Osa, choose between Drake Bay, reached by boat from Sierpe and closest to Corcovado's San Pedrillo sector, and Puerto Jiménez, the road town for the La Leona entrance. Remote lodges there often include meals because there is nowhere else to eat.

What to do

Arenal comes first for most visitors. The national park's trails cross the old lava flows to viewpoints facing the cone, which is clearest early in the morning; entry costs $16.95. Afternoons are for hot springs, the La Fortuna waterfall and hanging-bridge parks in the forest canopy, and nights for guided walks, when frogs and snakes are easier to find.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve sells timed tickets online and caps visitors per slot. Recent buyers report $29 per adult for each trail circuit, though the preserve's own site did not list prices when we checked. Walk with a guide in the morning for birds, including the resplendent quetzal, and come back for the 6 pm night walk. The Santa Elena reserve and the hanging-bridge parks take the overflow when the preserve is full.

Manuel Antonio is small and busy. Tickets ($18.08) are sold only through SINAC's online system, the park is closed on Tuesdays and open 7 am to 3 pm on other days, and food is banned on the beaches and trails, a rule that keeps capuchin monkeys and raccoons out of your bag. A guide with a spotting scope finds sloths you would never see alone.

Corcovado is the wild one. Entry requires a certified guide, costs about $15 a day plus tax, and starts from Drake Bay or Puerto Jiménez. The Sirena ranger station, the best place to see tapirs, is closed through 31 October 2026; San Pedrillo and La Leona stay open.

On the Caribbean, Cahuita National Park's Kelly Creek entrance asks only for a donation. The beach trail toward Punta Cahuita passes sloths and monkeys, and guided snorkel trips visit the reef offshore. Tortuguero, reached by boat from La Pavona or by small plane, is a village of canals; guided canoe trips leave at dawn, and turtle watching from July to October happens only at night with a certified guide.

From San José, Poás Volcano is an easy morning drive, but after an eruption in August 2026 the park halved daily capacity to 1,064 visitors, made helmets compulsory on the crater trail and limited time at the viewpoint to 20 minutes, so book a slot early. Closer still, coffee farms in the hills of Heredia and Alajuela run tours that are best during the harvest, roughly November to February. For adrenaline, the Pacuare River's class III and IV rapids run through forested gorges on day trips from the capital.

Eat and drink

Costa Rican food is plain and filling. Breakfast is gallo pinto, rice and black beans fried together with onion, sweet pepper and Salsa Lizano, served with eggs, fried plantain and natilla, a mild soured cream. Lunch is the casado.

Sodas serve both, cheaply and fast. San José's Mercado Central, trading since 1880 and filling a whole city block, hides many of them among the spice and leather stalls. Soda Tapia, near La Sabana park, is a long-running classic for a plate of gallo pinto or a casado.

The Caribbean coast cooks differently. In Puerto Viejo and Cahuita, Afro-Caribbean cooks make rice and beans with coconut milk, red beans, thyme and hot pepper, and rondón, a coconut stew of fish or seafood with root vegetables. Lidia's Place and Restaurante Tamara in Puerto Viejo are long-standing places to try both. Look also for patí, a spiced meat pastry sold by bakeries.

Chifrijo, a bowl of rice, beans, fried pork and pico de gallo, arrives with a cold beer, and Cordero's Bar in Tibás claims to have invented it. Imperial is the default lager, around ₡1,500–2,500 a bottle in most bars. Coffee is the national crop, yet many sodas serve it weak and sweet; for specialty beans, try the cafés of Barrio Escalante in San José or buy at the farms.

Practicalities

The currency is the colón (₡), and US dollars are widely accepted in tourist areas. Use ATMs inside banks or busy malls and shield your PIN, since card fraud occurs. Cards work in hotels, restaurants and most tour offices; carry colones for buses, sodas, park parking and roadside fruit stalls.

For data, kölbi, the state carrier, sells prepaid SIMs, and its 2 GB pack valid for 30 days costs ₡4,062. Claro and Liberty also sell prepaid plans. Coverage is good in towns and patchy in the Osa and parts of the Caribbean.

Tap water is drinkable in San José and much of the country, but in some rural and beach areas locals filter or buy bottled water, so ask your hotel. Plugs are types A and B at 120 V, 60 Hz, as in the US.

Theft is the common problem: from cars, from bags left on beaches and from passengers on buses. Canada's advice lists downtown San José, Manuel Antonio, Jacó, Puerto Limón and Puerto Viejo as hotspots. Rip currents drown swimmers every year and very few beaches have lifeguards, so swim where locals swim, never alone, and swim parallel to the shore if a current pulls you out.

Same-sex marriage has been legal since May 2020, the first in Central America, and San José has a small gay scene; rural areas are more conservative. Accessibility is limited outside larger hotels, though a few parks, Manuel Antonio among them, have stretches of accessible boardwalk.

Pura vida works as hello, thanks and all good. Mae means mate. Tuanis means cool. To order politely, say "me regala un café, por favor", and answer thanks with "con mucho gusto".

What nobody tells you

The famous places are busy. Manuel Antonio caps daily visitors and sells out in the dry season, La Fortuna is a tour town of agencies and souvenir shops, and Monteverde's main preserve can sell out its time slots in high season.

Wildlife is never guaranteed. Cloud can hide Arenal and Poás for days at a time, quetzals appear when they please, and Tortuguero's turtles keep their own timetable.

Sloths are everywhere in the marketing and hard to see in the trees. Paying to hold one at a roadside "sanctuary" funds the captivity the law forbids. A guide with a scope is the honest shortcut.

The rain is serious. A single September afternoon can drop more water than San José gets in all of January, and roads wash out. In return you get empty trails and low prices.

Prices surprise people. A sit-down dinner for two with drinks in Manuel Antonio or Tamarindo can cost what it would at home, and a week of tours adds up fast. Budget for the experiences, then save on sodas and buses.