Costa Rica Travel Facts

• The official language of Costa Rica is Spanish, although many Ticos and Ticas know Basic English. On touristic areas, hotel receptionist and tour operator guides speak English as well.

• Costa Rica has the same time zone of the U.S. Central Standard Time, but without daylight savings time.

• Most restaurants in Costa Rica include a 10% tip in the final price. It is not necessary to leave tip on restaurants or for taxi drivers. However, you can leave tips for tourist guides and tourist drivers if you would like to.

• Costa Rica has also a sale tax of 13%, and an additional 3% tourist tax for hotels. This additional 3% goes to the Costa Rica Tourist Board.

• The water in Costa Rica is safe to drink everywhere in the country, although some organism are sensitive to other places water, so we advice to buy bottle water for the first days of your stay in the country.

• As for the commercial offices, stores and other business, the business hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Government offices are opened from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

• The airport tax is $26 per person. It has to be paid in dollars or colones, but not with credit card.

• Costa Rica country code is 506; there are not regional codes. Bilingual operator assistance for international calls is 116, local phone information 113, long distance information 124.

• US or Canadian cell phones almost certainly will not work in Costa Rica, but if they do work, there will be a call fee of $5 per minute. There are some cell phone rent companies in the country but they can be really expensive.