Costa Rica

Late April to June and September to mid-October are the sweet spot for Costa Rica: warm days, manageable crowds and mid-season prices. July and August bring the heat, the peak prices and the queues — book everything ahead or start at 08:00. November to March is the cheapest and emptiest, with shorter opening hours and some seasonal closures.

Start with La Fortuna & Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio & the Pacific. Costa Rica is inland, so build the plan around heritage, food and landscape. Three days — the centre on foot, the flagship sight plus market, one booked excursion into Costa Rica. Five days — add a second excursion and a slow day for museums, food and a local festival if the dates line up. Seven days — add two longer trips further into Costa Rica and a rest day. Group each day by walking distance and never cross Costa Rica twice in one day.

Costa Rica admits EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian visitors visa-free for up to 90 days with a passport valid for the stay, proof of onward travel and an address; you also complete the online health and customs form within 72 hours of arrival. No vaccinations are mandatory, though yellow fever proof is required if arriving from certain South American and African countries. Requirements change: confirm against your own government's travel advice and the official immigration site before you book.

Costa Rica is safe for visitors by the standards of Costa Rica: violent crime is rare and the real risk is opportunistic — pickpocketing on crowded transport, at photo spots and in busy markets, plus unmetered taxis and card machines pre-set to a higher amount or your home currency. Avoid deserted station areas and unlit outskirts late at night, use the official taxi rank or a ride-hailing app after dark, keep your bag in front of you in queues, photograph your passport, and check your own foreign-office travel advice page before departure. Travel insurance with medical cover is worth it.

Walk the centre of Costa Rica and use public transport for anything further out; a hire car only pays off for the countryside of Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, shared shuttles between Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio are the sane option; a 4x4 only pays off in the Osa and Nicoya, and park entries such as Manuel Antonio must be booked online For accommodation, stay inside or immediately beside the historic centre for a first visit: you walk to the sights and save two taxis a day. The edge of the old town is the value option — a few minutes further out, cheaper and quieter at night — and a room over a courtyard beats one over a bar street.

Prioritise La Fortuna & Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio & the Pacific. What you can skip without regret: the restaurants with photo menus and touts on the main square, any hop-on bus if the centre is walkable, and paid "panoramic" viewpoints when a free one gives the same picture. Costa Rica is inland, so plan around heritage, food and landscape rather than beaches.

Stay inside or immediately beside the historic centre of Costa Rica: you walk to the main sights, restaurants stay open late nearby, and you avoid paying for taxis twice a day. Pick the edge of the old town if you want quiet at night, and check the room faces a courtyard rather than a bar street.

Use the scheduled airport bus or regional train for the cheapest transfer into Costa Rica, an official taxi from the marked rank when you arrive late or with luggage, and ignore anyone offering a private transfer inside the terminal. In Costa Rica, shared shuttles between Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio are the sane option; a 4x4 only pays off in the Osa and Nicoya, and park entries such as Manuel Antonio must be booked online

5 full days is the honest answer for Costa Rica: one for the centre on foot, one for its museums and food, and one for a trip into Costa Rica. Two days works if you only want the highlights; a fourth day is worth it if you want a slow morning and a longer excursion.

Budget €110–170 per person per day mid-range: €35–50 food, €20–40 shuttles or car hire, €40–70 park entries and guided walks. Accommodation moves the total most: shoulder season in Costa Rica can be half the July price for the same room. Payment runs on the colón (dollars accepted almost everywhere, change comes in colones; cards work in towns, cash for sodas and buses).

Day 1 — the historic core of Costa Rica on foot, clockwise from the main square, with lunch where you end up rather than walking back. Day 2 — the single biggest sight first thing, then the market and the residential streets around it, and a viewpoint at sunset. Day 3 — one excursion into Costa Rica booked in advance, back for a late dinner. Group everything by walking distance and never cross Costa Rica twice in a day.

Anything with timed entry or a small group sells out first: the flagship monument or museum of Costa Rica, guided tours with fewer than fifteen places, boat and wine experiences in summer, and dinner at well-reviewed restaurants on Friday and Saturday. Book those two to four weeks ahead in high season; everything else can wait until you arrive.

The classics are the same everywhere: unmetered taxis quoting a flat fare, "free" bracelets or flowers, distraction pickpocketing on crowded transport and at photo spots, card machines handed over pre-set to a higher amount or to your home currency, and restaurants without printed prices. Check the meter, always pay in local currency, and keep your bag in front of you in queues.

In Costa Rica, a 10% service charge is already on restaurant bills; tip guides and drivers separately, $5–10 a day. Breakfast with gallo pinto from 06:30, lunch 12:00–14:00 with a casado, dinner 18:00–21:00 — the country wakes and sleeps early. Cover shoulders and knees inside churches, greet staff before ordering, keep your voice down in residential streets at night, and expect shops in smaller towns around Costa Rica to close in the early afternoon.

Install Google Maps and Waze, Uber in the Central Valley, SINAC for national-park reservations, Windy for the rains. Download an offline map of Costa Rica before you land, and add your transport card or pass to your phone wallet if the local operator supports it.

Walk two or three streets off the main square or monument in Costa Rica and look for a short handwritten menu, a full room of local voices, and prices displayed at the door. A daily menu chalked up at lunchtime is the strongest signal; a laminated menu in five languages with a host outside is the strongest warning.

Eat what Costa Rica grows and lands: the signature rice, stew or grill of the region, whatever the market is selling that week, and the local wine or vermouth by the glass. The most honest versions are in the family-run place near the market of Costa Rica, at lunch, when the daily menu is on.

Breakfast with gallo pinto from 06:30, lunch 12:00–14:00 with a casado, dinner 18:00–21:00 — the country wakes and sleeps early. Book dinner for anything popular, ask for the bill (it won't arrive unprompted), and split payment is usually fine by card. A 10% service charge is already on restaurant bills; tip guides and drivers separately, $5–10 a day.

Do a single loop of the historic centre of Costa Rica, stop at its one defining sight, then eat where locals eat near the market. That gives you the character of the place in three or four hours without a ticket queue eating the whole visit.

Most of what makes Costa Rica memorable costs nothing: walking the historic centre and its squares, the market hall, the outside of La Fortuna & Arenal, the churches that ask only for a donation, the parks and gardens, and the viewpoint that looks back over the roofs. Add a stretch of the old walls, the riverside or greenway path, and the ridge road above town at sunset. Municipal museums in Costa Rica usually have one free afternoon or evening a week, and many cathedrals are free outside visiting hours if you go to pray rather than to tour — check the times at the door on your first morning.

Free: the highest point of the old town, the bell tower terrace when it's open, and the bridge or promenade that looks back at Costa Rica's skyline. Paid: a rooftop bar or tower ticket — worth it only if you arrive forty minutes before sunset to get the rail. Inland, the ridge or castle road above town gives the widest light.

shared shuttles between Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio are the sane option; a 4x4 only pays off in the Osa and Nicoya, and park entries such as Manuel Antonio must be booked online If your 5-day plan is mostly on foot in Costa Rica with one excursion, buy singles or a multi-journey card and skip the tourist pass; if you're crossing the city several times a day or using it with museum entry included, a 48 h pass pays for itself.

Costa Rica is safe by European standards; the real risks are opportunistic. Avoid empty industrial or station peripheries after midnight, unlit parks, and packed nightlife streets where phones disappear. Walk lit main streets, use a licensed taxi or ride-hailing app late at night, and share your route if you're travelling solo.

Buy something made nearby: single-estate coffee bought at the finca, Guaitil pottery, cacao from a small producer, an ox-cart wood carving from Sarchí. The weekly market in Costa Rica and a workshop with the maker on site beat any airport shop, and you're supporting the local trade rather than an importer.

Keep two indoor blocks in reserve: the main museum or cathedral of Costa Rica, a market hall with food stalls, a long lunch, or a thermal bath or wine cellar in Costa Rica. In extreme heat, invert the day — sights before 11:00, indoors from 14:00 to 18:00, and the evening back outside.

Locals go where there's no ticket desk: the residential lanes just outside the walls of Costa Rica early in the morning, the neighbourhood bar with four tables and one dish, the cemetery or convent garden that nobody photographs, and the hill road out of town at dusk. Ask the person serving you coffee where they eat on Sunday — in Costa Rica that question opens more doors than any list.