Important Costa Rica Facts before arrival
A stay of 90 days or less means a visa is not required from citizens of the US, Canada, and England.
A stay of 30 days or less requires no visa for visitors from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Belize, Iceland, and Jamaica.
See our Costa Rica retirement section for residency and related issues.
Costa Rica Do's & Don'ts Swimming Safety tips
Where is Costa Rica located?
The largest airport, Juan Santamaria in Alajuela (14 miles west of San José, the capital city) is the busiest airport and hosts the majority of international flights.Domestic flights are available to about 150 airports around the country (30 with paved runways!).
This is a picture of a secluded tropical beach on the southern Caribbean coast near Manzanillo. Click the picture for a full screen view.
Bus travel, car rental, and drivers are plentiful and make ground transportation pretty painless to the Caribbean and Pacific coast, mountains, and everywhere throughout the country.
Once you arrive (most likely at Juan Santamaria) a short trip through customs (aduana in Spanish) will find you out the door into a gaggle of taxi drivers looking for customers. Always negotiate your fare before you get in the taxi. Some taxi's are legitimately marked and others are not.
I suggest that you arrange to be picked up at the airport by a driver from the resort/hotel/bed and breakfast that you made reservations with prior to your arrival. The driver will be waiting for you at the airport with your name on a sign. This will make life easier and you will know the cost of your trip prior to landing.
Fun Fact about Costa Rica Costa Rica facts
In Costa Rica gringo has no negative connotation unlike elsewhere in the world. Gringo means North American (Canadian or US citizen) and Yankee is another nickname for US citizens.
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Costa Rica is a safe country but be aware of the following safety facts about Costa Rica. Like most (read all) Latin countries, petty theft is the biggest problem any tourist will face. Leave your rolex and fancy jewelry at home. Ask your host about the do's and don'ts of the areas you visit.
Escazu and Alajuela are two expatriate areas that tend to be less rife with theft than downtown San José for instance. Most of this nonsense occurs at night when tourists have maybe had a few drinks and their guard is down. It is better to be safe than sorry however.
Many travelers stay 1 night in or around San José the day of their arrival, and 1 night at the end of their trip to ensure adequate time to make their flight home. There are many activities and environment choices in Costa Rica so research our travel and tours and activities page to get an idea of the options you might most enjoy. We also have some suggestions for selecting the right hotel in this diverse country.
If you still have questions about your trip after your research we would love to hear from you. Use this link Costa Rica Facts question to contact us. There are contact links on most every page on the site for this purpose as well. Please make us aware of things not found on our site that should be there!! We will do our best to answer any questions you might have on facts about Costa Rica or any subject.
Fun fact about Costa Rica Costa Rica facts
Pura Vida means "Pure Life" and is a common acronym used by Tico's.
Pura Vida is also used to mean good, great, or OK.
Costa Rica Flag
The capital of Costa Rica is San José. The city is the largest in Costa Rica and is located in the Central Valley. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides. San José is a great place for Tico's to find employment but is much maligned otherwise. It is mostly a way station for tourists passing through to other destinations and activities. It has museums, some elegant buildings, and landscaped parks but is not really considered by many to be a highlight of any Costa Rican trip.Costa Rica is located in Central America south of Nicaragua and north of Panama. It is about 19,700 square miles (51,000 sq meters) in size. There are seven provincias (provinces) and it has a population of approximately 4,133,884 (July 2007 estimate). The average life expectancy is 77 years (74 for Ticos and 79 for Ticas).
The currency is the Colón (named after Christopher Columbus). The official religion is Roman Catholic but other religions exist and are welcome in the country. 95% of the citizens of Costa Rica vote in their democratic elections held every 4 years.
Fun Fact about Costa Rica Costa Rica facts
dos y media mil Colónes – If a taxi driver asks for this much for a ride he is asking for 2,500 colónes. Dos y media is 2 ½ - mil is 1000 – colónes represents Costa Rican currency. ( At 518 colónes to a dollar that would be $4.18 USD)
To check today's currency exchange rate
Universal Currency Converter
Costa Rica has six active volcano's.
Arenal Volcano (my favorite!) is a few hours from San José and features regular nighttime eruptions , beautiful scenery, relaxing hot springs, shopping, and a nearby waterfall in a lovely setting. Other major active volcano's are Irazú, Rincon de la Vieja, and Turrialba. For in depth information about Costa Rica's volcano's visit our volcano page.
Costa Rica has more varieties of butterflies than the entire African continent!. There are over 110 volcanic craters, and both coasts have pink, black, and white shell beaches.
The rainy season is from May til November and even during this time period Costa Rica experiences a high rate of tourism. During the rainy season, rental rates are much lower, and nice weather and activities continue since the average temperature near the equator changes very little year round.
Fun Fact about Costa Rica Costa Rica facts
¿Donde estan los servicios por favor?
Where are the restrooms please?
Don't worry, you will not need to learn this. It's just a fun fact about Costa Rica!!
Costa Rican business “shuts down” around the Easter holiday. The holiday is only March 24-27 but the entire week of Easter is a lost cause. Don't expect anything to get done during this week. This is a well known Costa Rica fact. This also applies to other holidays as well, although to a lesser extent.
Fun Fact about Costa Rica Costa Rica facts
Every four years 95% of Costa Rican citizens vote as opposed to about 60% in the USA. During this time period all forms of ground transportation are free to citizens. This allows locals to return to their home district regardless of their present location. Horns are honked by all to signify their happiness to express their freedom by voting.
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Here are some links to more (less fun I think!) Costa Rica Facts if you didn't find what you are looking for here!
More Costa Rica Facts
CIA FactBook
Costa Rica Embassy
All Costa Rica facts are provided to help you get the most enjoyment out of your vacation. If you need help finding other facts about Costa Rica not included here please contact us and we will do our best to help you get your question answered.
