Destination Guides & Maps - Costa Rica

Buy Costa RicaTravel Guides  

Costa Rica Packages  Costa Rica Flights  Costa Rica Hotels  Costa Rica Car Hire

Capital City: San Jose

Ethnic mix

More than 95 per cent of the population is descended from the Spanish. The rest of the population is a mixture of Afro-Caribbeans, the native indigenous population and a growing number of Nicaraguans.

Population: 3.8 million

Area: 51,060 sq km / 19,652 sq miles

Language: Spanish

Currency

Colon (plural Colones), named after Christopher Columbus. The US dollar is also accepted throughout the country. Colones are divided into 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 25 colon coins. Notes are available in 50, 100, 500 and 5,000 denominations. There are roughly 650 colones to one pound sterling.

If you intend to withdraw cash from auto tellers, it's important to note that although most Costa Rican banks have cash machines, only a few allow withdrawals with foreign cards. Banco Popular is your best bet.

Visa and Mastercard are also widely accepted across the country (Visa perhaps more so). It's always worth carrying cash or traveller's cheques (in US dollars) too, though, as some restaurants, smaller hotels or even visitor attractions (such as the Santa Elena cloudforest reserve) may not have the facilities to accept credit cards.

Geography

Bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south, Costa Rica is the second smallest of all the Central American countries - and is roughly the size of Wales.

Along the country's 1,000 km long west coast, the Pacific Ocean crashes onto its shores. To the east, the palm-fringed Caribbean Sea stretches for 200 km. So modest is the country's width that it takes only three hours by car - or 45 minutes by plane - to travel from coast to coast. A series of volcanic mountain ranges run along the length of the land, splitting the north from the south. Arenal, the country's most spectacular volcano is one of the most active in the Western hemisphere.

More than half of the country's population live in the central plain, in the centre of the highlands surrounded by mountains. The fertile volcanic soil here and altitude of between 1,000 and 1,500 above sea level provides an excellent base for coffee growing.

The costal lowlands to either side are quite different in character. The Caribbean is relatively smooth with smaller tides and far more rain. The Pacific is more rugged with two large peninsulas - Nicoya and Osa - and has bigger tides.

The country's position between north and south America is the reason for its abundance of wildlife. Tens of thousands of years ago, as Central America emerged from the sea, it provided a bridge for the different species from both north and south America. They began to interbreed and Costa Rica now has more types of wildlife per square foot than any other country in the world.

Religion

Predominantly Roman Catholic, with around 15 per cent evangelical protestant.

Time

Six hours behind GMT

Electricity

The electrical current in Costa Rica is the same as in America and Canada - 110 volts. Plugs have two prongs.

Emergencies

In an emergency there are several free telephone numbers you can call. For all emergencies dial 911, for the police dial 117, for an ambulance dial 128 and for a fire dial 118. If you have a road accident dial the traffic police on 222 9330 (this number is not free).

Telephone

To call Costa Rica from the UK dial 00 506 plus the area code and number. To call the UK from Costa Rica dial 00 44 plus the area code (missing off the first 0) plus the number.

Post

Almost all post offices in Costa Rica open from 7.30am to 5.30 or 6pm Monday to Friday and 7.30am to noon on Saturdays. Letters to Europe cost 25 Colones to post and take around two weeks to arrive.

Business Hours

Banks are open from 8.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday, Government offices from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday and shops from 9am to 6 or 7pm Monday to Friday. Many shops also open on Saturdays. Almost everything is closed on Sundays.

Internet/email

Most Costa Rican towns now have internet cafes, as do all post offices. Charges are around a dollar for half an hour. To use internet cafes at post offices you will need to buy a special pre-paid access card - available from the post office itself.

Tipping

As most restaurants in Costa Rica levy a 10 per cent service charge anyway, tipping is not expected (though of course you can if you are particularly pleased with your meal!) It is not the custom to tip taxi drivers either. It is becoming increasingly the norm to tip wildlife guides - but again this is not obligatory.

BBC World Service

In Costa Rica the World Service operates from Rock FM 107.5fm.

Want to get a closer look at Costa Rica? http://earth.google.com/

<< Back