A country smaller than Scotland, with two coastlines and a volcano in the middle.
Here is when to go, how long to give it, and which corner to start with.
Costa Rica looks small enough to see in a week. It is not. The roads are slow, the rain is punctual and the best wildlife turns up early in the morning, which means the country rewards the trip that does less, more slowly.
Our Costa Rica family holiday was a road trip with teenagers, in a loop from San José that took in the Caribbean coast, the Arenal Volcano, the Monteverde cloud forest and the Pacific at Manuel Antonio. It gave us nesting turtles, more sloths than we could count and some spectacular afternoon rain. The most useful thing it taught us is that Costa Rica is not one climate. The Caribbean and the Pacific keep different seasons, and where you go matters as much as when.
In short: the best time to visit Costa Rica depends on which coast you want and what you want to see. This page covers the seasons, the trip length and where to start, region by region.
We write about the places we have actually been, in the depth we would want if we were planning it ourselves. Each region below has its own set of guides, and we add new ones as we travel.
The side of Costa Rica most first-time visitors skip, and the one that feels most unlike anywhere else. Tortuguero is a village with no roads, reached by boat through jungle canals, where turtles come ashore to nest. Further south, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is reggae, rice and beans cooked in coconut, and a slower rhythm altogether.
Start with: Tortuguero National Park·Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
The adventurous middle of the country. La Fortuna sits under the cone of the Arenal Volcano, with hot springs, river tubing and sloths to look for on the roadside. A few hours away over the hills, Monteverde is cool, misty and green, with hanging bridges and ziplines through the cloud forest canopy.
Start with: La Fortuna and Arenal·The Monteverde cloud forest
Manuel Antonio is the national park that packs the most wildlife into the smallest space, with monkeys, sloths and white sand beaches inside the park boundary. San José is where almost every trip starts and ends, and it deserves more than the night by the airport that most people give it.
Start with: Manuel Antonio National Park·San José
New regions are added as we travel them. Every part of Costa Rica we write up gets its own card and its own guides on this page. The newsletter at the bottom is the way to hear first when a new one lands.
This is the question that decides the trip. Costa Rica has two seasons rather than four, a dry one and a green one, and the Caribbean coast does not follow the same calendar as the rest of the country.
For the Pacific side and the middle of the country, the dry season from December to April gives you the most sunshine, and the highest prices and busiest parks to go with it. The green season from May to November brings afternoon rain, lush forest, fewer people and lower prices, and it is when most UK families can actually go. For the Caribbean coast, September and October are often the driest months of the year, which is exactly when the Pacific is at its wettest.
We went in the British summer holidays, in the middle of the green season, and the classic pattern of sunny mornings and afternoon rain is very much what we got. Our full verdict on travelling at that time of year is in our guide to whether Costa Rica is worth visiting in the rainy season.
Dec to Apr
Blue skies across the Pacific and the middle of the country, dusty roads and the highest prices of the year. Christmas, New Year and Easter are the busiest weeks, so book early.
May to Aug
Our pick, and when we went. Sunny mornings and afternoon downpours, forests at their greenest and noticeably fewer people. Green turtle nesting season at Tortuguero starts in the summer, and a short drier spell in July and August often gives a break in the rain.
Sep to Oct
The heaviest rain on the Pacific side, with some rural roads and smaller businesses closing. The exception is the Caribbean coast, which is often at its driest now.
Nov
The rains ease off and the country turns green and quiet before the dry season crowds arrive. A good month if your dates are flexible.
Wildlife is the reason most people come, and some of it only happens at certain times of year. Turtle nesting on the Caribbean coast runs through the green season, with green turtles at Tortuguero in the summer months and leatherbacks earlier in the year. Humpback whales pass the southern Pacific coast twice a year, and birdwatchers come for the migration seasons. These notes are research rather than first-hand experience, apart from the turtles, and it is always worth checking the current season with a local guide before you book around one.
If you can pick your month, late April or November. You get the edges of the dry season without its crowds or prices, and the parks and roads are all open. If you are tied to the school holidays, as we were, Costa Rica in July or August works well. Plan your days around the rain, with activities in the morning and something indoors or in the water for the afternoon, and you lose very little.
Our tip
Get up early. In the green season the mornings are the best of the day, and in every season the wildlife is most active before the heat and the tour groups arrive. The earliest park entry slot is almost always the best one.
Longer than the map suggests, and in fewer places than you planned.
The mistake is judging the drives by distance. Costa Rica is roughly two thirds the size of Scotland, but mountain roads, single-lane bridges, weather and the occasional river crossing mean that three hours is a normal journey between neighbouring regions. Travelling between the Caribbean and the Pacific takes most of a day.
Our loop started and finished in San José and took in the Caribbean coast, the volcano, the cloud forest and the Pacific, with a hire car for everything except the boat into Tortuguero. The full route is below.
The ready-made plan
A loop from San José through Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo, La Fortuna, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio, with the drives between them, where we stayed, what needs booking ahead and what it is like to do it all with teenagers.
The practical things we wish someone had told us.
Most trips start at Juan Santamaría International Airport outside San José. There is a nonstop flight from London on some schedules, taking around 11 hours, and otherwise it is one change, usually in the US or Madrid. If you connect through the US, you will need an ESTA even though you are only changing planes. Liberia airport in the north west is the other international gateway and is closer to the Pacific beaches of Guanacaste.
Most flights from Europe land in the afternoon or evening. Plan to spend the first night near the airport or in San José rather than setting off on unfamiliar roads in the dark.
A hire car gives you the freedom to stop for sloths, and there are a lot of sloths. The roads ask more of you than British ones, though.
One of us lives with a severe nut allergy, so this is something we check for every country. Costa Rican cooking is built around rice, beans, plantain, eggs, fish and fresh fruit, and nuts are not a staple of everyday dishes, but coconut is common on the Caribbean coast and cross-contamination is always possible.
Outside the main tourist areas, less English is spoken. Our Spanish allergy translation card is worth carrying, and telling the kitchen at the time of booking rather than when you sit down makes everything easier.
The things worth sorting before you fly, because the best ones fill up. We book through GetYourGuide where it makes sense.
A guided canoe trip along the canals is the best way to see Tortuguero, and a naturalist guide in Manuel Antonio will find animals you would walk straight past. In La Fortuna, the hanging bridges put you up in the rainforest canopy with the volcano behind.
No. British passport holders can visit Costa Rica as tourists without a visa. You will usually be asked to show proof of onward or return travel, and your passport needs to be valid for your whole stay. Entry rules do change, so check the current requirements on the UK government’s foreign travel advice for Costa Rica before you book.
More than most of Central America, and closer to UK prices than people expect. Tours, park entry, car hire and lodges in the popular areas add up quickly. Local restaurants serving casados, the set lunch of rice, beans, salad and meat or fish, are good value. The way to keep the cost sensible is to travel in the green season, stay longer in fewer places and eat where Costa Ricans eat.
It is one of the safest countries in Central America, and millions of visitors each year have no trouble at all. The common problems are petty theft, especially from cars and on beaches, so keep valuables with you. On the Pacific coast, rip currents are the real hazard, so swim where there are lifeguards or where locals swim. Avoid driving after dark.
There are no compulsory vaccinations for travellers arriving from the UK. A yellow fever certificate is only required if you arrive from a country with a risk of yellow fever. Routine UK vaccinations should be up to date, and travel clinics commonly suggest a few others. Check NHS Fit for Travel or a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly.
The Costa Rican colón. US dollars are also accepted almost everywhere tourists go, and hotels, tours and car hire are often priced in dollars. Change is usually given in colones, so it helps to carry both. Cards are widely accepted in towns and tourist areas, and cash machines are easy to find, but carry some cash for smaller cafés, roadside stalls and park entrances in rural areas. Paying in colones at local places usually gets you a fairer price than paying in dollars.
Costa Rica does not change its clocks, so the gap moves with ours. It is six hours behind the UK in the British winter and seven hours behind in the British summer. It also sits close enough to the equator that sunrise and sunset barely move through the year, with darkness falling around 6pm.