Currency in Costa Rica
 

Hi,
Going to Costa Rica at Christmas. Is it necessary to bring colones or can I get by with American dollars?
Thanks,
Jeff

It may depend on where you are. I was recently there on a business trip and in San Jose or touristy areas I found that you could pay in USD for everything (even taxis). When I was a few hours outside in small towns, I used colones.

Bring lots of small bills and get some colones once you are there. Most places have no problem with USD but small, out of the way places might give you a lost look and want colones. Anything over a $20 can be a big bill for them so bring lots of $1 and $5 and keep some colones on you and you'll be fine. Bigger places will take your debit card or USD with no problem. Change often comes back in colones but you can always buy something at the airport or use it when paying your departure tax. If you need to get cash at a bank once there, you'll need to have your passport with you and lines can be long. There is often an ATM attached where you can use you debit card to get cash.

We've always used dollars everywhere we've gone and haven't had a problem. You get colones back in change as mentioned above.

Seems to me when you are in a foreign country you should show the respect of using their currency. They may take dollars but they can lose on the exchange rate or have trouble exchanging in the smaller towns. Give them colones they can use easily, it's not hard to get them at the ATM. Plus it adds to the fun of travel.

You can pay with dollars at

the rip off tourist exchange of 500 Colones/USD

correct rate 590 Colones/dollar www.coinmill.com

Use my Cap 1 Visa and no fee ATM get correct exchange rate

save over 15% with each use

We were surprised when we went to a little fruit stand in the middle of nowhere that we got the regular exchange rate; the man pulled out a calculator and calculated it. Not always the case though.

With the "Everybody takes dollars" approach, you'll lose about 15%, as is mentioned above. You're paying for a convenience. The places taking the dollars then have to go to a bank and make the exchange.

If you're paying for big-ticket tourist items, like your hotel bill or a tour, those will probably already be priced in dollars, and you won't lose anything. But stopping at some small place, assuming they take dollars at all, they'll probably round the rate down to 500, as qwovadis says above. I've even seen places calculating it at 450 to 480.

Remember, too, that nobody is obligated to take dollars.

zurich, one thing to be aware of if you decide to use your credit card to pay for hotels, tours, etc. A lot of cc companies will tack on a conversion finance fee for using your card in CR - usually around 3%, but it varies. Also give your cc company a heads up that you'll be traveling there; sometimes if you don't, it will throw up a fraud charge and your card will get blocked.

Some businesses in Costa Rica also tack on a small surcharge to accept your credit card to offset the fees they are charged.