How much is a trip to Costa Rica? On our trip through Latin America, Costa Rica was one of the countries where we spent the most time. Therefore also the Costa Rica Trip Cost was higher than in other countries. We spent a full 24 days traveling in Costa Rica, taking a round trip along the Pacific coast and the Caribbean coast. Since Costa Rica is a very touristy country, the price level is only slightly below what you pay in Europe. So the Costa Rica trip cost will be higher than in other countries in Latin America. What we spent in just over 3 weeks in Costa Rica is detailed in the following sections. To simplify the calculation of travel expenses, we have rounded the amounts for the individual items up or down to the full Euro.
Costa Rica Currency
Costa Rica’s currency is called Colon (CRC). The conversion rate is about 1 Euro = 650 Colon. Conversely, 1000 Colon equals about 1.50€.
| Colones | Euro |
|---|---|
| 1000 | 1.50 |
| 5000 | 8 |
| 50.000 | 80 |
| 200.000 | 300 |
Costa Rica Trip Cost – How to get to Costa Rica
We traveled to Costa Rica from Chile and paid almost as much for our one-way flight as a round-trip ticket from Germany would cost. Prices for a round-trip flight from Germany are around 600-800 Euros. If you fly during the vacations or peak season, it can be more expensive.
When entering the country you have to present a return ticket. Since we wanted to travel by land from Costa Rica to Panama, we did not have a return ticket and therefore booked a 48 h-ticket (11 Euro p.p.) at Bestonwardticket.
Bestonwardticket issues you a real, valid flight ticket within a few hours. The ticket expires by itself after 48 hours and can be used during this time, and mostly afterwards, as a return ticket or as a confirmation of the onward journey when entering Costa Rica. By the way, when we left Costa Rica we also had to pay an exit tax of about 8 Euros per person.
More articles about Costa Rica
Travel within Costa Rica
If you want to visit several destinations in Costa Rica you have 2 options. You can either take the bus or rent a car. The price differences are not very big, since bus travel is quite expensive in Costa Rica. If you go by bus to a place, then take a cab to the final destination (e.g. a national park) and back then you have almost the same costs as with a rental car for two people.
The rental car also has the advantage that you are much more flexible.
By rental car through Costa Rica
For a rental car (e.g. with four-wheel drive) you pay about 30-35 Euro per day. If you want to go by bus for 3-4 hours, you will have to pay 10 Euro per person. In our 3.5 weeks in Costa Rica we went by rental car, bus, boat, bicycle and cab. So we have always taken the way of transportation which worked the best in certain areas.
For example we spent 5 days in the coastal town of Tortuguero. We returned our rental car beforehand in San Jose, so that we do not pay unnecessarily the rental car and parking costs, when we do not use the car.
Costa Rica Itinerary
We spent nearly 4 weeks in Costa Rica and have circumnavigated the Central American country almost once. Of course we didn’t see all the sights, but we picked out the highlights we thought were the best. If you want to see which route we took, check out our travelogue about our road trip through Costa Rica.
Costa Rica Trip Cost – Hostels
We mainly slept in hostels during our round trip through Costa Rica. In order to have some privacy, we always slept in double rooms and almost always booked rooms with private bathrooms. Hostels often offer the advantage of a kitchen that can be used. If you cook yourself, you save a lot on the cost of food. On average, we paid 26 Euro per night in Costa Rica.
We booked our hotels exclusively on Booking.com and never had a bad experience. Even if we chose accommodations that had no or very few reviews. In addition, you can cancel many hotels until shortly before the trip. Perfect if your plans change spontaneously.
Cheap Hotels in Costa Rica at Booking.com *
How much does food cost in Costa Rica?
In order to save some money while traveling, we like to cook for ourselves while traveling and rarely eat out. The cheapest place to eat out is in the so-called sodas at lunchtime. Here you can get a meal for about 3-6 Euro per person. In addition, we had already included breakfast in some accommodations. This of course saves some money and is especially advantageous if the hotel you are staying in does not have a communal kitchen.
Costa Rica Trip Cost – Activities
Costa Rica is just teeming with different activities and opportunities to experience something. From visiting different national parks to surfing, hiking to kayaking tours, and even yoga and spiritual retreats spread across the country. In order to enjoy our stay in Costa Rica to the fullest, we visited many national parks and were not deterred by the high entrance fees. We were happy to save money on other things, such as food.
Other expenses
In addition to the expenses for accommodation, food and transportation costs, there are usually other costs that we have listed here. In order to always research routes, activities or similar we got SIM cards in Costa Rica to be able to access the internet on the road. Also souvenirs as well as the postcards for the families at home belong to this category.
Costa Rica Trip cost – Total Costs of our Round Trip
But what was the total cost of our 24 days trip through Costa Rica? In the end, our stay in Costa Rica was pretty much as expensive as we expected. We tried to save money on accommodation and food to be able to enjoy all the highlights of Costa Rica despite the high entrance fees.
Do you have any other questions about the cost of a Costa Rica road trip or were the costs different for you? Or would you add more costs to the list of travel costs of a Costa Rica road trip? Then feel free to write us a comment below the article!