Top Travel Tips in Costa Rica From Our Readers
This week we collectively hacked Costa Rica, not just one city, but the entire beautiful democratic country of Central America. We learned when to go, where to go, why take a guide and what to do in the bathroom. We’ve collected all the valuable comments in the Staff tab below the original post , but below are our favorites.
- “If you want to see animals, go during the rainy season. Aside from being off-season (and probably cheaper), you’ll see forests full of life. I went on a bird tour and saw baby toucans, parrots, various hawks and other unique animals. ” – Aximill
- Eat local sodas. This is what the locals eat and you can get a good plate of meat, rice, beans and bananas for $ 4-5. ” – HungWeiLo
- “US dollars are accepted in most places. It is good to have some local currency for places like gas stations, but I could buy groceries, visit shops and even food carts in US currency. ” – Slacklinejoe
- “If you are used to certain American gear, check the prices before leaving. Peanut butter, for example, is INCREDIBLY expensive there (in my experience, usually around $ 9 a can). ”- Little Mac
- “Costa Rica’s tap water is safe to drink. There is no need to buy plastic water bottles on the way there. I drank tap water the entire time I was there without any problems. “- sweatshopboys
- “If you are a coffee lover, there is a lot of good coffee to be found. Head to Cafeoteca, Franco or Café la Mancha, order a Vandola (Costa Rican liqueur) and grab your free San Jose walking tour brochure – it’s both a great guide and a great piece of art. In addition, most shops in the San Jose / Alajuela area use lactose-free milk, which is great for lactose intolerant people like me. ”- Alan Rae.
- “If you decide to stay, congratulations: you can probably afford a maid! They all have a maid. It’s weird. “- Little Mac
- “If you want an experience away from the tourist areas, head to the Osa Peninsula. Bosque del Cabo is an amazing lodge downstairs. Great food and comfy bungalows. The guides can teach you everything you want to know about the forest and local wildlife. ”- huffj3
- “Alajuela: [the area] where the airport is actually located. It’s a little warmer here than usual in San Jose. Here you will find the Poas volcano. The national park around it was closed for a while last year due to volcanic activity. But it has recently been reopened and the site is well maintained. The largest strawberries can be grown here ”- GMYoW
- “Hire a guide to visit Manuel Antonio National Park. The guides will overwhelm you in the parking lot, which is off-putting but worth it. Without a guide, you will not see anything like it, ”- Tony the Terrible.
- “We would have missed 95% of what we saw [in Manual Antonio] without a guide. In addition, the guides have telescopes, and much of what can be seen in the park requires at least a superzoom. You can even take pictures through a telescope with a mobile phone and they will look amazing. ”- Tony Baloni.
- “[At Manual Antonio] hire a guide to walk from the beach to the entrance. By this point, the guide has already entered the park (for which they may ask you to pay), and they already had at least one paying customer that day, which probably made your bet cheaper. ” – MKoester
- “When I arrived, we decided to fly to Nicaragua first, and to be honest, it was amazing. We landed at Manaug and headed south in a chicken bus. Nicaragua’s beaches are amazing and everything was much cheaper than Costa Rica. If you are interested in heaven on earth: the Apoyo lagoon , check out this little gem “- Pedro_de_Pacas
- “Stay away from Tortuguero. Ecotourism does not always mean sustainability. Watching turtles at night was a nightmare. People run around, frighten turtles without looking back. The guide sat smoking cigarettes, and he didn’t care “- UXB666
- “I love driving in Costa Rica because they are as aggressive drivers as I am. Be careful, let faster drivers go around you. Don’t drive at night unless you know exactly where you are going. The roads are not marked as in your country. DO NOT drive in moving water. Give yourself extra time to get where you are going because you want to stop at local fruit stalls. Also, watch out for the animals while driving. Many creatures can and will cross the road “- siprozak
- “There is NO paper at all in the toilets, NOTHING. Use the barrel that came with each toilet, yes, you read that correctly, this is how it is done here, so don’t clog the toilet. Except for high class hotels in SOME places. The law requires public toilets in almost all stores, including grocery stores. Some roadside tourist spots want you to buy or pay maybe $ 1,000 (US $ 1.67) for this privilege. “- CaptBrad617
- “Don’t call yourself American. They are also on the American continent and do not appreciate that we are taking possession of the entire continent. You can say that you are from the USA. Don’t be offended if you are called a gringo; they mean nothing by it. It’s just their word for people from the USA. ”- Willie.
- “Be careful where you put your hands when walking through the rainforest. There are fire ants and other nasty things in the jungle. While walking around La Fortuna, we had a guide who showed us a lot of spiders, caterpillars, tarantulas and other nasty things. One boy in our group continued to control everything, and at some point the guide suddenly stopped him because he was about to put his hand on the deadly caterpillar. ” – Tony Baloney
See the original comment thread for more tips and post yours below. Come back next week when we hack Bam.