Colones or dollars in Costa Rica?

Should I bring dollars or change money into colones?

Both, in that order. US dollars are accepted almost everywhere a tourist goes, but your change comes back in colones and the exchange rate a business gives you is worse than the bank’s. The practical answer is: bring some small dollar bills, and pull colones out of an ATM on your first day.

The currency is the colón, written ₡, and it shows up as CRC on your bank statement. The dollar is not legal tender but it is used daily: hotels and tours usually quote in dollars, while lunch, the bus and the corner shop are in colones.

If you are coming from Europe: do not bring euros. They are changeable in San José but awkward and poorly rated everywhere else. Either bring dollars or skip cash entirely and use ATMs, which is the cheaper route anyway.

What is a dollar worth in colones?

It moves daily, which is why there is no number printed here — it would be wrong before the month is out. Over the last decade it has run somewhere between 500 and 700 colones to the dollar, and it swings a fair amount inside that range.

Look it up the day before you fly and keep a round number in your head. That number is your yardstick for whether a shop’s exchange rate is reasonable or predatory, and it is your only defence against the person who can tell you landed this morning.

Where do I get colones?

From an ATM. It is the cheapest and fastest route, and there are machines in every town with a bank and in most large supermarkets.

A few things that help:

• Most ATMs offer you colones or dollars. Take colones.
• Nearly all of them charge a withdrawal fee, and your home bank probably charges another on top. Withdraw larger amounts less often — the fee is flat, so three withdrawals cost three times as much.
• There is a per-withdrawal cap and it is not always generous. If you need a lot of cash, plan on two transactions.
• A machine inside a bank branch or a shopping centre is safer than one standing alone on the street. Same as anywhere.
• Tell your bank you are travelling, or your card will be frozen on the second withdrawal. This happens constantly.

You can also change money at a bank counter, but you need your passport and the queues are long. Changing at the airport is the most expensive option there is — do only what you need for the taxi and the first day. And do not change money with anyone who approaches you on the street offering a good rate.

Can I just pay by card?

For most things, yes. Visa and Mastercard are taken at hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations and shops without any fuss. American Express is accepted far less often. Contactless is common in cities and at chains, less so in small towns.

Here is the detail that saves you real money. When you pay by card, the terminal sometimes asks whether you want to be charged in dollars or in colones. Say colones. Always. If you let it charge you in dollars, the exchange rate is set by the machine rather than by your bank, and it is always worse. This is called dynamic currency conversion and it is one of the quietest ways to lose 3% to 5% of your trip.

What cards will not get you:

• Public buses.
• Many neighbourhood sodas and village shops.
• The farmers’ market.
• The man watching your car on the street.
• Some parking lots and some highway tolls.
• Entrance fees at smaller waterfalls, private trails and beach parking.

Cards cover the expensive things; cash covers the cheap ones. Arriving with cards only is the classic mistake.

How much cash should I carry?

Not much, and in small notes. A day’s worth of loose spending is plenty: lunches, buses, tips, parking, the shop on the corner.

The real problem is not running out — it is change. Walk into a village shop to buy something worth a thousand colones with a twenty-thousand note and there is a good chance they cannot break it, and the awkward one in that exchange is you. Break big notes where there is a real till: supermarket, gas station, restaurant.

Each colón note has its own colour and its own animal, which makes them easy to tell apart before you are used to them. The thousand-colón note gets called un rojo, after its colour, and you will hear that a lot.

Which dollar bills are actually useful?

Ones, fives, tens and twenties. Nothing larger.

Fifties and hundreds are a headache: plenty of businesses will not take them, and the ones that do will examine them closely. Condition matters too. A torn, taped, written-on or badly worn bill gets handed back here, even though it would pass without a glance at home. Check what is in your wallet before you leave.

US coins are useless — no bank will change them. If you end up holding some at the end of the trip, keep them for the airport on the way out.

What is SINPE Móvil and can I use it?

You will see it everywhere — a phone number taped to the counter — and no, you cannot use it. SINPE Móvil is instant transfer between Costa Rican bank accounts, and opening one requires residency. It is how the country moves small money, but it is not open to visitors.

If a small place takes only cash or SINPE, for you that means cash.

When should I insist on paying in colones?

Whenever you have them. A business that accepts your dollars applies its own exchange rate, and it sets that rate: rarely in your favour, sometimes well against it. The same goes for a hotel front desk offering to change money for you — convenient, and expensive.

Simple rule: dollars for things that were quoted to you in dollars, colones for everything else. The short version applied to a restaurant table is in where to eat.

The short version

1. Pull colones from an ATM on day one. Fewer, larger withdrawals.
2. When the terminal asks, charge me in colones, never dollars.
3. Bring small, clean dollar bills. No hundreds.
4. Keep cash for buses, sodas, markets, parking and tips.
5. Airport counters and hotel front desks are the worst rates you will find.

With money sorted, the next two things that confuse visitors are whether you need a rental car and how Costa Rican addresses work — because they do not have street numbers.