Alecto

I'm traveling to Costa Rica next week (yay!). I'm going down with about $300 but then I get paid direct deposit two days after I get there.

The travel book says to always go to a bank that's open in case your ATM card doesn't work and you have to get money from a teller.

How does that work? Can a teller just give me cash even though I'm from another country?

Thanks in advance.

Alecto

I forgot to add that I'm going to be in San Jose for one day, then Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio.

dncee11

Most of the ATMs I saw were connected to banks and were accessable in secured areas only during banking hours. They did not always seem to work for each and every different card; we used our BofA debit card at Banco Popular with no problems. There were ATMs in most towns.
Good luck and have fun!

Dude

Not sure what you are talking about. Most banks will usually exchange currency, cash trvaler's checks, give a cash advance on a credit card-

kaudrey

SJ and Arenal (and I'm sure MA) have multiple banks, so if your ATM doesn't work at one, just try another. For some reason, Banco Nationale wouldn't give me cash on my Citibank debit card, but all the other banks would.