EVERYTHING You NEED To Know Visiting Costa Rica Travel Tips

what's going on everybody this is islandhoppertv coming to you from one of the many cloud forest here in costa rica today we're going to talk about things to know when you visit costa rica let's do this [Music] so when you come to costa rica let's talk about things to see and do there's a lot of stuff you're going to want to do like these jet boat tours catamaran tours sunset cruises booze cruises where you just get out there and explore also when you go into the tropical rainforest like the volcanoes erin all or there's five here the hanging bridges lots to tropical rainforest for you to explore and go see also hikes many different micro climates across costa rica that you guys can hike in just do be aware that you're going to need some mosquito repellent because the mosquitoes will get you in certain areas and they won't get you in other areas it just depends on what mosquito is going after you but anyways lots to see and do the caribbean side is different than the pacific side but many of the pacific villages that you'll come across tamarindo samara santa teresa evita or dominical they're going to have a different vibe to them these beach towns surfer vibes haako there's really a lot to see and do the more you get into costa rica the more you want to explore so that's what i've experienced i've also talked to people who've come here and visited they said they were here for 10 days guess what they ended up doing extending and then extending again that's the kind of place costa rica is things to see and do everywhere all right for the next thing let's talk about things to know about entering into costa rica right now here in november and then moving forward so right now if you want to visit if you are vast you don't need insurance but if you're unboxed you need insurance now in january the costa rican government has set forth a policy saying that if you are unvaxed then you will you might not be able to get into several hotels and uh some of these restaurants they're going to leave it up to the discretion of the owners of the restaurants and the establishments but they have to operate under 50 capacity so we'll see how that pans out but you're still allowed to come here as it stands right now and the guidelines are constantly changing but just keep that in mind moving into january 2022 uh overall i would say it is pretty easy you just go onto the website fill out a form let them know where you're entering from supposedly also you have to have a departure ticket if you do book a departure ticket that you may need to change probably do it with an american carrier instead of a latin american carrier because it's probably easier to get refunds or uh change your flight status just keep that in mind all right next up let's talk about weather and things to wear when you come to costa rica i will say this especially as you get up into the highlands erin all volcano any of the volcanoes in the interior lots and lots of rain so do be aware that you're going to want a rain jacket at the very least it doesn't snow up here even in the winter time but it does get very cold now when you go down to the coastline you're going to want flip-flops and beach attire even in the winter so just be aware that you're going to have those two types of climatic differences even san jose the capital a cold place so uh keep that in mind when you come here also tennis shoes flip flops and maybe even a pair of hiking boots all right guys let's talk about safety in costa rica is it safe from my experience of all of latin america there was about two countries that were a little bit more safe than others chile in south america and costa rica but here's what i've noticed about costa rica the cities they're kind of well i wouldn't exactly say they're the safest places like san jose but where costa rica really accelerates and safety is in the small towns so as you get away from the bigger cities and you get into these small towns it seems like costa rica just gets more safe you'll notice at 10 11 o'clock at night women by themselves walking around the village both tourists and locals uh women quite frequently riding bikes in these villages long distance walking by themselves you don't see that many places across the world so that does speak a testament to the safety in costa rica like i said the big cities not so safe there's a couple party towns like hako that might not be safe as well but when you get onto these villages these backpacker eco tourist communities very safe so i wanted to put that out there all right let's talk beaches in costa rica first you have the pacific ocean side and then you have the east side which is the caribbean side we're currently sitting on the pacific side where you get the sunset on the caribbean side you get the sun rises now we're close to papagayo if we go south we go to manuel antonio but on the other side where the caribbean is the nice side you want to go to south of limon a lot of people don't recommend going to ramon so go to the old town but that's the things to know about the beaches you're not going to get that really clear water and costa rica a lot of it is palm trees with more of like iron colored sand so a mix between mud and sand but you're not going to get that clear water even in the caribbean side that you get at some of the islands like jamaica or the virgin islands so just keep in mind the beaches are nice but the water is also not that warm yeah so when you come to costa rica there's a variety of different cuisines there's desayuno which is the breakfast as you can see i got this very authentic costa rican breakfast we'll also show you some of the lunch and dinner we're also going to get some good ceviche here in costa rica so let me keep showing you guys around and here is gaio pinto a breakfast you've also got tons of seafood options ceviche lobster chifrio you've got the ceviche you've got the red snapper plenty of different carne beef pollo casato like i said queso and burgers so when it comes to seeing wildlife in costa rica there's a couple things you'll want to know there's sloths there's monkeys there's four different species of monkeys so far i personally have seen three of them i've seen the squirrel monkey the congo monkey which is the howler monkey i've also seen uh the white-faced monkey but then they also have two types of sloths here the two-toed sloth and the three three-toed sloth one of them has a face like chewbacca also whale season they get whales off the coast in the months of uh august september sometimes even into october so they're blue whales then they get a little bit of humpback whales down here best place to see that is probably moreno balina in the south by uvita other types of wildlife like birds macau the parrot the red parrot it's called a ro cabo roja i believe but also known as a guacamaya another bird that's really popular here they've got the toucan so that's cool and a quetzil it's this green bird that you can only find in the highlands lots of wildlife all across costa rica so you're definitely going to want to get out there and do some night hikes or even afternoon jungle hikes uh through the forest and all that jazz really a great place to see wildlife one of the most biodiverse places i've ever been so let's talk about the people of costa rica they're actually called ticos or tikkas t-i-c-o-t-i-c-a depending on if they're male or female that's the name for the people in costa rica but uh they're very environmentally friendly uh people they like to preserve their country that's why they have so many national parks so uh they're very uh aware of the fact that they're in a beautiful place they come from a beautiful place and that their biggest selling point is definitely the environment and they love to represent that and protect the environment also when it comes to uh needing help there are very friendly people i mean they're always smiling and willing to help you uh they go out of their way in some points so much so that you feel like wow what can i repay the costa rican people back for all of the things that they've done for me so that's the people of costa rica they love their culture they love their people and a lot of times very safe so shout out to all the people who are tico or tikkas here in costa rica and when you come here you'll notice when i say gracias for example someone will say pirovita pure life so pirovita is basically the same kind of thing as saying gracias so pirovita means just pure life but you'll hear a lot of people say that is a salutation or as a goodbye or as a thank you so remember piravita when you come here you're ready to say that a lot costa rica is a very ecologically diverse place uh there's the caribbean side there's the pacific side it seems like people tend to lean towards the pacific side so when it comes to cost of travel or cost of experience it seems like the places that are the most precious and most beautiful at this current time seem to have the best prices for example we are in quetzales the national park we're staying at a very beautiful four-star resort right along the river here we're staying for 85 dollars a night but then we stay in san jose at a hilton or in marriott and it's 150 tonight and we've seen marriotts along tamaringo or that whole area right up there by flamingo beach four seasons going for anywhere between four hundred to five hundred to a thousand dollars a night but i found that actually when you get out there into these eco resorts where there's not these chain hotels you'll get that same kind of four-star five-star experience but in a beautiful ecosystem for a really good price so when it comes to accommodation uh don't be scared to get out there and explore some of the off the beaten path lodges or eco resorts eco retreats because you'll get really good prices and an even better experience than just staying at the marriott or the hilton now don't get me wrong i'm a bon boy member i'm a hilton honors guy but when it comes to costa rica if you get out there in those hidden retreat areas like i'm at right now in the petzales national forest i mean it's like heaven on earth i mean we've done glamping there was camping right near the glamping site uh lamping is fairly new here in costa rica it's actually a pretty cool experience you know you go to the bathroom outside you take a shower outside but you sleep inside and they had an air conditioner in there as you'll see right now as we show you what that clamping experience looked like but also you know there's hostels a montezuma beach there was a hostel there for 28 a night for a private room not too bad of a price for a private room especially in a beautiful place like montezuma beach but such a variety of different accommodations so like i just said you can get them for as cheap as 28 dollars a night i think you could even find something uh more affordable than that if you really search obviously airbnb so lots of accommodation so just some things to know there is the care of the inside and then there's the pacific side most of the people that i've talked to including myself would all say that the pacific ocean side is a bit better than the caribbean side that doesn't mean that the caribbean side isn't interesting because i'm here right now in kawita but it's just also considered not as safe but there's also not as much to do so keep that in mind i'm just showing you guys how beautiful it is on the caribbean side right now though all right let's get into the subject of cost of living and money right so when you're out here you're going to be asked to transact in either colonies or dollars most atms will distribute either one the benefit of using colonies is that you get a better conversion rate so they don't charge you as much as they would if it was dollars there's a couple times where i definitely paid more in dollars because i used i i opted to use the dollars over the colonies so i would recommend definitely having some colonists on hand and understanding that currency now let's talk about when you're out to eat so the way they do it is they include 10 percent in the bill when you're out to eat that's the propina that's the service charge so you can give an extra tip propina is tip and espanol in case you didn't know so you say donde propina where's the tip uh just giving you a little spanish for you right there but another thing to keep in mind is like i said in previous uh segments there's a local price there's a tourist price and then you always want to get somewhere in between the idea that you're going to get a local price is very seldom you're not going to get the local price unless you're out in some village where there is no tourist then they'll just give you the local price and that price can be really really low i mean i stayed in a hotel that was forty dollars they could have easily gone for 120 dollars but because it was a local uh hotel that locals stayed at i got the local price and there wasn't uh anything else to say or do about that so definitely local price is way lower than what most of the green goes are paying right now just letting you know you know let me say something about money and cost in costa rica because it's really possible to spend a lot of money in costa rica really quickly there's the costa rican price then there's the tourist price and then there's somewhere in between you probably as a tourist want to be somewhere in between but it's really easy to get a tourist tax that is out of this world expensive and one of the greatest ways to avoid that is by going with a tourist a tour company so when you go with these freelance workers or these freelance people that's when they really will stick it to you some way somehow they caught when the tourists will pay this absurd amount of money for a lot of different things and so when you're stuck with freelancers you will pay that just letting you know when i talk about freelancers freelance tour guides freelance taxi guides uh people on the street they just like to tax the tourists you want to avoid that just go with the official tour companies find those guys and really love them show them a lot of respect because they're charging the fair price more often than not when you come to costa rica be ready to have a good time lots of adventuring plenty of waterfalls rainforests it seems like just can't get enough of the rainforest it's always around there's only two main airports one in the north one in the middle so i would definitely recommend getting a rental car like i said if you get a chance hope you guys enjoy costa rica crush the like button if you guys love costa rica you

Channel: Island Hopper TV

Views: 250,570

Keywords: Travel Guide, Costa Rica, Costa Rica travel guide, Travel to Costa RIca, Visit Costa Rica, Costa Rica tips, how to prepare for costa rica, where to go in costa rica, is Costa rica safe, Things To Know Visiting Costa Rica, costa rica trip, Costa Rica tour, Costa Rica tourism, Costa Rica Airport, Costa Rica hotel, Tamerindo, Caribbean vs pacific, San Jose, Jaco, Costa Rica 2022

Id: 3LtsQ9D85ZY

Length: 15min 47sec (947 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 26 2021