North AmericaCosta RicaCosta Rica
Costa Rica fits a startling share of the planet's wildlife between two coasts a morning apart. A river that turns luminous blue, humpbacks in the bay nine months of the year, and a free hot river under the volcano that heats it. Take a guide, because unaided most of it walks straight past you.
Who it's for
Is this your trip?
When to visit
December–April on the Pacific and in the interior
Festivals
Worth planning around
Destinations
10 places
Food guide
Eat like a local
Not to miss
Essential experiences
Culture
Know before you go
Daily budget
≈€47–75 budget · €105–170 mid-range
Practicalities
Visa, SIM & more
Costa RicaCosta Rica in a nutshell
Where to go in Costa Rica
Turn these stops into a Costa Rica route
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Routes that work
Costa Rica itineraries, one week to three
Costa Rica is loved by culture seekers and backpackers alike. We recommend several routes through this country, here they are in full!
7 nights1 week, Arenal and one coast
San José · La Fortuna · Manuel Antonio
Reliable weather at La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio; dry conditions maximize volcano and beach time.
10 nights10 days, the classic loop
San José · Manuel Antonio · Monteverde
Dry skies across Manuel Antonio, Monteverde cloud forest, and La Fortuna volcano for unobstructed views.
12 nights2–3 weeks, the hostel circuit
San José · Puerto Viejo · Monteverde
Dry weather across Puerto Viejo, Monteverde, Santa Teresa, and Tamarindo; peak season social scene.
13 nights2 weeks, the classic loop plus the south Pacific
San José · Manuel Antonio · Uvita
Dry season covers all three coasts: Manuel Antonio, Uvita, and La Fortuna equally reliable.
14 nights2 weeks in September, the Caribbean relocation
San José · La Fortuna · Monteverde
Targets September's one advantage: Tortuguero and Puerto Viejo at their best while Pacific rests.
14 nights3 weeks: Guanacaste in, Caribbean out (4×4 self-drive)
Monteverde · Río Celeste · La Fortuna
Combines Río Celeste, Monteverde, and Tortuguero when both coasts clear; 4×4 routes passable.
15 nights2 weeks: Caribbean first, both coasts
San José · Puerto Viejo · Cahuita
Puerto Viejo and Cahuita dry; Manuel Antonio and La Cruz on Pacific also reliable.
17 nights~3 weeks: the full self-drive loop, Pacific to Caribbean
San José · La Fortuna · Monteverde
Only months when Pacific (Manuel Antonio, Uvita, Santa Teresa) and Caribbean (Puerto Viejo) are both dry.
Updated August 2026 · Written by the Stippl editorsThis is what 87,000+ planned stops in Costa Rica on Stippl say about the country.
Costa Rica is planned around what you go outside to do, and most travellers give a stop 2 nights. The list is a guided wildlife walk at dawn, ziplining in Monteverde, canyoning in La Fortuna and the hot springs under Arenal afterwards. Further out sit Río Celeste in Tenorio, the whale tail at Marino Ballena, the canals at Tortuguero, the hanging bridges, and Corcovado, which you walk with a certified guide or not at all.
Costa Rica gets planned as a chain of short stays across a small country. 33.6% of stops here last a single night and a typical trip carries around fourteen of them, which is a lot of moving for a country you can drive across in a day. The parks are the itinerary, and each one is a stop.
So slow it down and give the good ones two nights. A typical trip runs 22 days, and the wildlife is a dawn activity, so the stops you rush are the ones you paid to see. Skip Costa Rica if you want cities, nightlife or built heritage: San José is where people change transport rather than where they stay, and the country puts its effort outdoors.
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Download the appWho Costa Rica is for
Wildlife-first travellers
Sloths, four monkey species, toucans, scarlet macaws, quetzals, dart frogs, crocodiles, turtles and whales are all reachable on a standard two-week loop, and the country packs them into short drives.
Adventure travellers
Ziplining, canyoning, whitewater rafting, surfing, diving and volcano hiking are the country's core product, not a sideline.
Families
Hot springs, hanging bridges, waterfall walks, chocolate tours and rescue centres all work with children; some ziplines take kids from age three, while canyoning and the bigger lines carry age and weight limits.
Self-drive road-trippers
A compact country with calm traffic, good main roads and a genuinely modular route that works at two, three or four weeks; 22 days is typical.
Surfers of every level
Around 1,200 km of coastline, beginner beach breaks and expert reef breaks, and a Caribbean that delivers swell when the Pacific is flat.
Solo travellers and backpackers
High-quality sociable hostels on a well-worn circuit through San José, Puerto Viejo, Monteverde, Santa Teresa and Tamarindo.
Honeymooners and luxury
Private-hot-spring villas, treehouses, glamping with a volcano view and jungle lodges are a real category here, not a marketing line.
Maybe not for you: travellers who want cities, nightlife or built heritage, since San José is a transit stop and not worth lingering in; and anyone expecting Central American prices, because this is the expensive country on the isthmus.
The best time to visit Costa Rica
Pacific dry season
December to April
The season the guidebooks mean when they say Costa Rica: sun on the whole Pacific side and in the Central Valley, and the highest prices and fullest parks.
Green season
May to November
Afternoon rain on the Pacific, heaviest in September and October, with roads breaking up and some coast businesses closing. Hotel rates run up to sixty per cent lower.
Caribbean, the other calendar
driest February to March and September to October
The Caribbean coast has no clean wet-dry split and rains all year; its two drier windows sit inside the Pacific's wettest months, so a September trip goes to Puerto Viejo and Tortuguero.
- Costa Rica does not have one weather calendar. In the Pacific dry season the trade winds push wet Caribbean air onto the eastern slope, so a December trip should not make Puerto Viejo its centrepiece; a September trip should.
- Christmas to New Year is the busiest and dearest fortnight of the year. Park tickets, rental cars and rooms sell out weeks to months ahead, and Easter week is the domestic peak that empties the rental fleets.
- January is the month most travellers plan Costa Rica for on Stippl, about 79 days ahead. 18.4% of plans are made inside a fortnight, which does not work in the dry season and works well in the green one.
- Dry does not mean cloudless where it matters most. Monteverde's cloud forest drizzles in any month and Arenal's summit hides year-round; early morning gives the best odds of the volcano, and nobody can promise it.
- The turtles have a calendar of their own. Tortuguero's green turtles nest from July to October and its leatherbacks from February to June; the Pacific olive ridleys come ashore from August to November.
- Humpbacks come in two groups with a gap between them. A southern group from mid-July to early November and a northern one from December to March, so April to mid-July is the one stretch with no whales on the coast.
Add your Costa Rica dates and we'll flag the weather per stop
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every place on your route.
Festivals, and when to avoid them
Christmas and New Year
The country's single busiest and most expensive fortnight: park tickets, rental cars and rooms sell out weeks to months ahead. San José runs a Festival of Lights in December and a carnival before New Year.
Fiestas de Palmares
The biggest domestic party of the year, an hour from San José: concerts, bull runs and traffic on the road west. The Central Valley's rooms are fine; the road to the Pacific on those weekends is not.
Envision
The country's best-known music and arts festival, a week in the jungle at Uvita on the south Pacific coast. Uvita and Dominical are booked out for it and the road south is slow; either come for it or skip that week.
Semana Santa
The domestic travel peak: Manuel Antonio's tickets sell out weeks ahead, the rental fleets run empty and the beaches fill from Thursday. Alcohol sales stop on the Thursday and Friday in many cantons.
Whale and Dolphin Festival
Uvita's own festival, timed to the southern humpback season on the Marino Ballena coast; the whale boats run full and the town's small hotels fill for the weekend. The rest of September is the empty green season.
Limón Carnival
The Caribbean coast's big annual event, a week of parades and sound systems in Limón, and it falls inside the coast's second dry window. Puerto Viejo's rooms tighten for the weekend.
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Things to do in Costa Rica
A guided wildlife walk at dawn
Take a guide with a spotting scope on the first walk of every park, about €40 for two to three hours; the wildlife is superbly camouflaged and without one most of it walks past you. The single most repeated piece of advice about the country.
Ziplining in Monteverde
Ride the lines people who have ziplined elsewhere call the best in the world, with superman-style cables over a kilometre long and a Tarzan swing, about €50 to €60. If you only zipline once, do it here, in a morning slot before the cloud.
Canyoning in La Fortuna
Rappel down live waterfalls, the highest drop about seventy metres, about €90 for the half day with lunch. Operators run beginner versions that lower children under guide control.
Arenal's hot springs
Soak in the springs heated by the volcano, genuinely different from one another: a thermal river through gardens at Tabacón, a swim-up bar with the volcano in view, or the free river beside the road. From free to about €70 with dinner.
The whale tail at Uvita
Walk the sandbar shaped like a whale's tail at low tide in Marino Ballena, about €6, in a bay where northern and southern humpbacks both come, giving whales from December to March and from late July to October.
Tortuguero's canals
Explore the roadless maze of waterways at dawn by canoe with a guide, about €25, on one of the world's great green-turtle nesting grounds. The nesting tours from July to October are guided-only, capped and run without torches.
What to eat in Costa Rica
The national default plate: rice, beans, salad, plantain and a protein (chicken, beef or grilled fish)
Rice and beans fried together, the standard breakfast, usually with plantain and egg
Afro-Caribbean coconut seafood stew, a genuinely separate cuisine from the interior's
Coffee dripped through a cloth sock on a wooden stand: the traditional brew, and part of every farm tour
Cacao grown on the Caribbean slope and around Tenorio, tasted and ground on farm walks
Fresh fruit blended with water or milk; ordered with every meal
Sugar-cane spirit, the national liquor, see the methanol warning in Safety
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Costa Rican customs and what not to do
Pura vida does three jobs
Greeting, thanks and no worries in the same two words; it is not a phrase about nature, whatever it is sold as abroad, and overused it marks you as a visitor.
Usted is always safe
Costa Ricans use usted even with friends and family, far more than tú, and vos is common too; defaulting to usted is never rude, and Ticos is what they call themselves.
Conservation is not a veneer
The parks system is a genuine national value: several parks ban single-use plastic outright, tickets are sold only on the official SINAC portal, and communities have blocked roads to protect them.
The 10% is already on the bill
The service charge is mandated by law and goes to staff wages, so it is not a tip; extra tipping is genuinely optional, and rounding up is a gesture, not a duty.
They see what you cannot
Hiring a guide is a cultural norm rather than an upsell: guides hear, see and smell what you cannot, and they are the backbone of tourism here. Budget about €15 a day.
The Bribri and the Maleku
Indigenous cultural depth sits with the Bribri on the Caribbean coast and the Maleku near La Fortuna, both of which run village, cacao and storytelling programmes on their own terms.
Do
- Book park tickets on the official SINAC portal before you travel, with the passport number you will carry
- Start wildlife activity at or before seven and keep afternoons for ziplines, springs and beaches
- Ask to be charged in colones, and carry cash for parking, small reserves and rural areas
- Carry a reusable bottle; several parks ban single-use plastic outright
- Tip parking attendants a small amount, and nature guides at the end of the day
Don't
- Leave anything visible in a parked car, even for a five-minute stop
- Feed or touch wildlife; Manuel Antonio's capuchins steal bags and turn aggressive
- Take insect-repellent spray into Manuel Antonio, or single-use plastic into Manuel Antonio or Río Celeste
- Drive mountain roads after dark; there is no lighting and fog on the Monteverde and Poás roads is routine
- Sit under, or shelter from rain beneath, the manchineel tree on sandy beaches; its sap blisters skin
What a Costa Rica trip costs
Budget
€47–75
Dorm bed or basic cabina, sodas for most meals, public buses with the occasional shuttle, one paid park every other day, free beaches and the free hot-spring river.
Mid-range
€105–170
Mid-range hotel or small eco-lodge double, a share of a rental car with its mandatory insurance, a paid activity most days and restaurant dinners.
High-end
€300+
Resort or signature lodge, private guides, hot-springs day passes, private transfers and the higher-end adventure operators.
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Visas, SIM cards and getting around
Entry & visa
Up to 180 days, visa-free
EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports enter visa-free for up to 180 days, though the officer stamps the length at their discretion. An onward ticket is checked at check-in.
Money
Colones beat dollars
The colón is the currency and US dollars are accepted almost everywhere, but paying in colones gets the better rate. Cards work widely; keep cash for parking and rural areas.
Connectivity
Kölbi is the local name
An eSIM bought before departure works well and skips the phone shop. A local Kölbi SIM needs your passport and a registration call, so let the shop staff do it.
Getting around
Rent a car, insurance included
A rental car is the standard mode; the mandatory liability cover is what booking sites hide from the headline price. A 4x4 is required on the Nicoya Peninsula, optional elsewhere.
Health
One repellent covers them all
Nothing is compulsory. DTP and hepatitis A are the standard recommendations, and bite avoidance covers dengue, chikungunya and Zika together; malaria is confined to Limón.
Water
Drinkable in most of the country
Tap water is treated and drinkable across most of the country, La Fortuna and Monteverde included. Use bottled in the Guanacaste beach towns and on the Caribbean coast.
Tipping
Ticos leave nothing extra
A 10% service charge is on the bill by law and anything beyond it is optional. The exception is a nature guide, about €8.50 to €17 a person a day.
Power & plugs
American plugs, not European
Costa Rica runs on North American electrics: types A and B at 120 V. Europeans need an adapter, and a single-voltage hairdryer needs a converter or stays at home.
Language
More English than neighbours
Spanish is the language and English is spoken more widely than in most Spanish-speaking countries, especially around the tourist towns. Effort with Spanish is warmly received.
Costa Rican Spanish worth knowing
Nobody expects you to speak the language, which is exactly why a handful of words goes so far.
POO-rah VEE-dah
Hello / thanks / no worries / I'm good, the all-purpose reply · ¡Pura vida!
kon MOO-cho GOO-sto
"You're welcome", where other Spanish speakers say *de nada* · Con mucho gusto
BWEH-nahs
The catch-all greeting that works at any hour · ¡Buenas!
KWAN-toh KWES-tah
How much does it cost? · ¿Cuánto cuesta?
lah KWEN-tah por fah-VOR
The bill, please · La cuenta, por favor
MY-eh
Dude / mate, the most common Tico filler word in casual speech · Mae
TWAH-nees
Cool, nice, great · Tuanis
DON-deh es-TAH
Where is…? · ¿Dónde está…?
SOH-dah
A small family-run local restaurant, essential practical vocabulary · Soda
kah-SAH-doh
The set plate you order at a soda · Casado
Costa Rica questions, answered
With how many stops the days will actually hold. A Costa Rica trip runs 22 days on Stippl and every region change eats half a day, so ten days is four stops rather than six. Lay the drives out in Stippl, then show the route to people who have driven it, in the Costa Rica subreddits or the Facebook groups.
La Fortuna, Puerto Viejo, Santa Teresa and Tamarindo get three; Monteverde, Manuel Antonio, Uvita and Tortuguero get two; San Jose and Liberia get one. That is across the 87,000+ stops planned in Costa Rica on Stippl, and it is the classic loop written out as a packing schedule.
Two trips in three do. Only 34.2% of the Costa Rica trips planned on Stippl stay inside Costa Rica, and the usual additions are Panama, Nicaragua or a wider Central America run. If Costa Rica alone is the plan, ten days to a fortnight is the right size for it.
No. Shared shuttles, private transfers and tours with hotel pickup cover the whole classic circuit door to door. A car buys early starts, flexibility and dinner where you like, and for two or more people it usually works out cheaper than shuttles once the compulsory liability cover is in the quote.
No, it is a relocated one. September and October are the wettest months on the Pacific and among the best on the Caribbean, so the fix is to move the itinerary east to Puerto Viejo, Cahuita and Tortuguero rather than cancel. Pacific hotel rates fall hard in the same weeks, which helps.
San Jose for the Central Valley, Arenal, Monteverde, the central Pacific, the Caribbean and Osa. Liberia for Guanacaste and Nicoya. They sit about four hours apart, so landing at the wrong one costs a day at each end, which is a lot to give up on a ten-day trip.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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