Costa Rica Travel Costs

Our two-and-a-half-week trip to Costa Rica was packed with beaches, hiking, and many long bus rides. Fortunately, the beaches and hiking were easily accessible and the buses were very inexpensive.

I’m glad we included Costa Rica on our itinerary. It felt a world away from Guatemala. In comparison to Guatemala, Costa Rica is much more modern and has an infrastructure build up to make getting around the country relatively easy and affordable. Costa Rica is also extremely tourist friendly. ATMs and merchants will deal in either US dollars or Costa Rican colones, and in most of the big name tourist destinations we were more often greeted with a "hello" than an "hola". The downside was that we found it difficult to get off the beaten path, especially when we didn't have a car. 

Enormous moss-covered trees in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. 

Costa Rica still makes for a phenomenal vacation destination. There is a huge diversity of things to see and do, but to get the most of it you have to be willing to spend some money. Granted, most things are cheaper than in the US so I would still consider it a very affordable vacation destination, but on our budget the “cost of travel” within Costa Rica was a bit high. We did exceptionally well on our budget, but it wasn’t without forgoing some comforts and activities. We stayed in a few hostels with shared bathrooms and, in the more expensive beach towns, only ate out once a day and used the grocery store for all other meals. We also skipped out on the adventure activities and spent a lot of time walking and hiking as a cheaper, alternative activity.

Our favorite spot in Tamarindo. We scoured all the restaurants along the beach and this was by far the best. $2 got you a draft beer and, more importantly, a comfortable Adirondack chair on the sand and in the shade. I would stretch that beer out for the entire afternoon just to keep our spot on the beach.

Below is a summary of what we spent in Costa Rica. We only added this up at the end of our trip, but look at that, right on budget at $101 a day! After having gone through this exercise for our Guatemala trip we developed a much better sense of what $100 a day should feel like.

Accommodations: We spent a lot of time in hostels and shared living spaces. We only had a place to ourselves in Monteverde and during our entry and exit from San Juan.

Transportation: Our biggest expense was our flight from Guatemala to Costa Rica. We took numerous bus trips, but they were all quite affordable. $5 will get you across the country, but it won’t buy you dinner…

Restaurants: Although we went out to eat far less than in Guatemala it still cost us more.

Tourism: This is almost entirely due to national park entry fees. Our only other expense was when we bought two beach towels to use at the Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio beaches.

Grocery: We bought lots of snacks, food, and sun screen.

Drinks: We didn’t go out all to often but when we did we tried to find the cheapest place to have a beer with an ocean view. In Monteverde we sought out steaming cups of coffee and hot chocolate to warm us up.

Hiking in Rincon de la Vieja, on a section of trail that was unusually well maintained. 

There are still a lot of places I would have liked to see in Costa Rica. We never made it to the Caribbean coast, Arenal, or down south to areas like Drake Bay or Corcovado National Park. Even with all our time we still can’t see everything. But if we returned I would certainly go with an increased budget, get our own rental car, and use it to drive around to the far reaches of this small but beautiful country. 

The ocean view from a restaurant in the town of Manuel Antonio.