U.S. Dollar & Costa Rican Colón

The official currency of the Republic of Costa Rica is the colón (colones plural) but U.S. dollars are accepted nearly everywhere, dispensed by ATMs, locals banks have dollar savings accounts and greenbacks are used by the Costa Rican government for national park fees and some taxes. 

Colones are some of the most beautiful banknotes in the world featuring art engravings of tropical nature. Bills come in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 “mil” (thousand) and coins are 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 colones.

Sometimes Dollars are Better

Not only is the U.S. dollar widely accepted, sometimes it’s the smartest way to pay.

Many tours, hotels and restaurants have prices or menus listed in dollars which means there is zero exchange cost when paying with cash dollars.  If you pay for an $80 tour with U.S. currency it will cost you $80.  If you pay in colones the business converts the price with a 3% exchange margin and the tour will cost you $82.50 worth of colones. 

On top of that, if you got the colones that you’re spending at a bank or ATM in the first place then you also paid for that transaction and using cash colones has now raised what you’re paying for the tour to about $85. Conversions always cost you… no matter which way or where you’re exchanging.

Credit and debit cards are different and it’s almost always better to accept the charge in colones to avoid the dynamic exchange rip-off.  

Exchanging Between Colones & Dollars

Most everyone is quite honest and if you pay for something priced in colones using cash dollars the exchange will cost around 1%-3% (5-15 colones per dollar exchanged).  2-3%  is what banks and credit/debit cards charge as a buy/sell spread so you may be better off exchanging ‘on the street’.  

Calculating the exchange between dollars and colones is very simple while the rate stays near ¢500 per 1$.