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Everything You Need to Know Before Traveling to Costa Rica
Costa Rica is one of the most popular countries to visit in Central America. Interestingly enough, they have two pretty massive international airports. It’s one of the biggest hubs, like Europe, and Canada, from the US. It is a very popular country, mainly because of its nature. Likewise, it’s eco-friendliness and the overall friendliness of the Ticos. Today we’re going to be talking about everything you need to know about traveling to Costa Rica.
Getting Around
Normally there are ways to get around Costa Rica. I have a good, really interesting episode about renting a car in Costa Rica. So make sure you go and listen to it because there are quite a few things that you need to knowabout it. From insurance to gas there are so many important things. Renting a car in Costa Rica is probably one of the most common ways to get around.
Shutteles
Also, another way is definitely through shuttles. They have a great shuttle system. The problem with the shuttle system is they’re very limited on time. A lot of times you won’t even make it if your flight comes in not on their schedule. But if you’re going from one area to another area, you could certainly take that and it’s a little bit cheaper.
However, if there are three or more people traveling, it’s going to end up actually being a little bit cheaper if you get a private transfer.
Private Transfers
And I highly recommend private transfers because then they stop along the way in all these really cool places. So getting a private transfer is the most likely second most popular way to get around Costa Rica.
Public Transportation
Then, of course, you could do the public transportation, but that is kind of go at your own time, go at your own risk. It’s not that it’s dangerous, but it could be very slow. But again, if you have a lot of time, why not? It’s a lot cheaper, for sure.
Hotel Prices
Costa Rica is not a cheap country. It is pretty expensive because it is so geared towards tourism. And the majority of the hotels that are decent will start to cost between $250 all the way up to $1,000 per night. Anything around fifty dollars to one hundred dollars is quite mediocre and definitely not what you would think you would pay in a Central American country. Very low standards.
Currency
Whatever the money that they use, they are colones. Dollars are definitely accepted everywhere, but colones are local, although credit cards are pretty much taken anywhere other than like local restaurants and at the market.
Eateries are Called Sodas
However, there are incredible eateries called SODAS. Make sure you go and listen to my entire podcast about where to eat in Costa Rica. They’re called SODAS. Interestingly enough, for less than $10, you can get a huge homemade, delicious Tico style meal, including drinks and dessert, and they are located all over the country.
What to Visit in Costa Rica?
Now, the main thing about CostaRica is that it is a multi-destination country. I guess you could say, because of the majority of the eco-environment, it has a lot of different biodiversities that you normally would go and visit at least two, most likely three or four different locations. So, for instance, the most popular thing, if you have, let’s say, seven to ten days, you would go to the coast, the rainforest and maybe the cloud forest.
Manuel Antonio
So mainly you would do Manuel Antonio, which is in the southern part of it’s in the middle south of Costa Rica, along with the ocean. The coastline, the wildlife. It’s fascinating because of the wildlife there, you could literally have constant daily personal interactions. The next place that you would visit is the rainforest.
Arenal and La Fortuna
Those two places are the most popular, and the rainforest is the Arenal and La Fortuna area. This is also where the volcano is, and this is where the majority of the best adventure tours you could possibly have are.
Monteverde
Then you could also add in the cloud forest. Monteverde is a really popular one.
Monteverde is the cloud forest. It’s also a really great place. It’s chilly and rainier than Vara Blanca. It’s also a cloud forest, much closer to San Jose, and it’s right next to Poas Volcano, which is one of the active volcanoes. Really cool place.
Guanacaste Region
Then you also have the Guanacaste region, which has some of the more popular beaches of Costa Rica like Tamarindo. And you have the Nicoya Peninsula and Playa grande.
That’s a really big area as well to go and visit in one of the more popular places. It’s close to Liberia. Liberia is the second largest city, and it has one of the largest international airports as well.
What to Do in Costa Rica?
Canopy Tour
Some of the most popular activities to do in Costa Rica, the number one activity is the canopy tour. You can find them pretty much anywhere, but I highly recommend if you’re going to be in Arenal or Monteverde, those are the best ones. Please go to the ones that have insurance that is well known. Because everybody in Costa Rica has built a canopy tour. A lot of them are not safe, but some of them are really safe and it’s not hard to find out which ones because they’re the ones that have the insurance. SkyTrek is one of the number one for Monteverde, and there are a few others in Manuel Antonio and around the areas.
But please make sure to find out if they are insured, and how often they maintain it. It’s really important. Some of them could be really dangerous, and you just don’t want to risk it.
Hanging Bridges
Hanging bridges is another really popular, really fun thing to do in Costa Rica.
The best ones to do are in Arenal, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio. Again, make sure you find out which ones are really kept up a lot.
Rafting and Canyoneering
Rafting is another very popular activity to do. There is canyoneering, which is repelling off of waterfalls. Again, you need to go with a tour group that has insurance because the fact that they have spent money on being insured really takes them to the next caliber.
A lot of them are not insured, but when they are insured, they have to uphold certain standards. So please guys, go to one, and spend that little extra to really do that.
Water Activities
On the coastal areas, obviously, you have surfing also, sailing is a really big thing. Fishing is really popular, and then you have the entire OSA Peninsula, which is really far south, and I really recommend flying there. It’s not the easiest place to get to, but once you’re there, everything is compact, so you could pretty much get around easily.
In that area, there’s Drake Bay, there’s Puerto Jimenez, areas that you could get around. If you go during the dry season, you can definitely drive there and you’ll be able to pass through places like Dominical and Uvita, a lot of these really cool little beach areas. There are plenty of airbnb options. Hotels in Costa Rica are really popular for their boutique hotels, but remember, they are not cheap.
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