Costa Rica boasts an off the grid farm where internationally renowned guest chefs create signature dishes based on the day's organic harvest, luxury resort seafood platters piled with langosta and camarones, and a modern menuless Mediterranean cafe that's truly family style because you'll eat what … [Read more...]
Travel
Practical travel information like transportation options, driving, safety, health, packing, lodging, holidays, festivals, money and much more. Includes a section on weather, seasons, crowds and pricing to help you decide the best time to visit
Corruption in Costa Rica
Corruption is a Latin American stereotype and Costa Rican headlines continuously announce the latest official caught taking bribes for anything from automotive safety inspections to construction contracts. Corruption impacts residents much more than tourists, but visitors may experience it in a few … [Read more...]
Tips for Traveling with Kids
These suggestions are informed by nearly 25 years of experience traveling with young people in Costa Rica. While a lot of it is just obvious common sense hopefully there are some helpful tidbits that haven't occurred to you. Children of All Ages Home Base - Most kids learn their home address … [Read more...]
Costa Rica Live Weather Reports
Headed over to the Caribbean side and you want to know what the weather is doing right now? Arenal Barva Volcano Buenos Aires Cahuita Cerro Muerte Domincal Golfito Irazú Volcano Jiménez La Cruz Liberia Limón Los Chiles Manuel Antonio Nicoya Nosara/Guiones Palo Verde Paquera Poás … [Read more...]
Credit Card Insurance
We always use the rental car coverage that is included as a free service of our VISA signature credit card. Other Options | Damage Claims | Fine Print Rental Car Insurance Using a Credit Card in Costa Rica For us there are a number of advantages to using our card coverage instead of buying … [Read more...]
Today’s Weather in Costa Rica
Skip down to today's detailed weather and forecasts for each region of Costa Rica. General Costa Rica Weather Trends Costa Rica's dry season lagged a bit and the first few weeks of 2020 saw some lingering rain even in the drier regions of the Pacific. The Caribbean has had typical "tropical" … [Read more...]
airbnb & VRBO Cautions
Online vacation rental platforms have revolutionized the lodging industry and most people are aware of the upsides of renting a couch, room, condo or house from someone with a spare. There are some pitfalls too. Some you can watch out for and others are just down to bad luck. stranded | nickle … [Read more...]
Navigation & Drive Time
Getting where you want to go can be challenging but these tips should help. The best advice, use a free GPS app on your phone for turn by turn directions (but don't be a lemming). Also consider a good map for the overview, and ask for help early and often (our nifty waterproof roadmap has … [Read more...]
AirBnB Prices Set to Increase up to 64% in Costa Rica
Heading into the 2020 high season there's still some uncertainty. The new 13% Value Added Tax introduced in July 2019 definitely had an impact but there are more price increases to come. Some hotel and lodge owners have expressed concerns that rental properties and room shares have an unfair … [Read more...]
Preventing Theft
Each time I update this page I struggle to figure out how to get people to take crime seriously without making Costa Rica sound like a war zone. What the tourist board wants everyone to know is that "Costa Rica has the lowest crime rate of any Central American country", but this a dubious … [Read more...]
Getting the Best Airfare to Costa Rica
Any time you travel to Costa Rica your best bet for getting cheap airfare is to know a good deal when you see one. The second most important thing to know when shopping for flights is that cheapest is almost never the best. The third and maybe most important is that finding the least expensive … [Read more...]
The Most Dangerous Thing in Costa Rica
Can you guess what danger is hiding in plain sight in this photo of a room with a view in Costa Rica...? There are a lot of candidates for the most treacherous, risky, menacing peril awaiting visitors to Costa Rica - crocodiles in the estuaries, dengue mosquitoes in the swamps, deadly vipers … [Read more...]
Costa Rica Coffee Making
We have two different systems for preparing our Costa Rican coffee and they couldn't be more different. Which one makes a better cup of coffee? We'll probably take a lot of flack for saying it but the ultra-modern super-automatic wins hands down. Coffee Taste & Quality - advantage … [Read more...]
You Can’t Get There From Here
We frequently get questions about route finding from visitors planning to drive in Costa Rica where geography, weather, and (lack of) infrastructure can conspire to make it surprisingly difficult to get "there". We recommend a three pronged approach which includes a good map for the overview, … [Read more...]
Typical Menu
90% of Costa Rican restaurants have menus that are 90% the same (I just made that up but it might be true) so the menu below will give you a pretty good idea what it's like eating in Costa Rica. Unless you're in a Chinese restaurant (and possibly even if you are) odds are very good that you'll be … [Read more...]
Here Comes the Rain Again
The 2019 Costa Rica rainy season arrived along with the intertropical convergence zone right on schedule at the beginning of May and June is shaping up to be slightly wetter than average. The Costa Rican Emergency Alert System - Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias … [Read more...]
National Parks & Reserves Under Siege
Most visitors would never consider intentionally taking a tresspassing tour to areas closed for safety and wildlife conservation but according to officials Costa Rica's National Parks, Reserves and Wildlife Refuges are experiencing a crisis of trespassing and more serious illegal activity. tourists … [Read more...]
Riders on the Storm(s)
Costa Rica Rainy Season Travel A lot of people ask us "will there be any sun if I go to the beach in rainy season?" but a better question might be "is it possible to go to the beach in rainy season?" We spent this August and an unexpected bit of September traveling all over Costa Rica gathering … [Read more...]
Traffic Violations, Citations & Fines in Costa Rica
Most of Costa Rica's traffic laws are familiar to drivers from anywhere even if the tendency to treat the laws as suggestions is not so familiar. A valid driver's license from nearly any other country in the world allows you to get behind the wheel in Costa Rica. Like the U.S. and all of … [Read more...]
You GOTTA Be Kidding – Stupidity on the Roads
Never underestimate the sheer stupidity possible Costa Rica's roads. In 40 years of driving in some of the most infamous countries in the world I’ve never seen anything like it. The first time I drove down the ramp onto the new section of the PanAmerican between Liberia and Canas in Guanacaste I … [Read more...]