My husband and I have planned a 12 day trip in Costa Rica and will be visiting Volcan Arenal, Monteverde, Montezuma and Jaco. We have rented a 4x4 and have planned to drive early each day and only drive during sun light. We are now questioning whether we made a mistake; friends, family and co-workers have all told us we are crazy and we will not be safe at all and shouldn't go. My husband and I travel a lot and have been many places around the world so we are not new to traveling and usually spot potential problem people right away. We've also read a lot from this forum and other guide books and are aware of the risk associated with travel to C.R. But after all of the feedback from the people we know, I would like a sanity check here, is C.R. as dangerous as what these people are making it out to be? I am in my late 30's and my husband is 41, both in pretty good health.
Signed,
Doubting Thomas

Just what exact risk associated with travel to CR are you referring to and concerned about? Driving, or the country in general? I am surprised to hear that you are getting such information! I would think I would get plenty of back-up when I say that Costa Rica is known to be generally a very safe place. Poor roads, poor local drivers and petty theft are the common concerns, minor in comparison to other foreign/latin american countries. Oh yeah, and sunburn being number one! Being so close to the equator, this can really ruin a trip! Petty theft can be common, but any violent crime is known to be rare (much less crime than in the U.S.). I don't know how your acquaintances are getting their info, but I would recommend you do some research on your own and make your own judgement. You will find it is one of the safest countries to visit. Read the forums and trip reports and you will find very little mention of these concerns. The locals are known to be the most helpful, gracious, lovely people, and some say the highlight of their trip. Drive slow and with caution (or hire a driver), keep your things attended at all times, never leave anything in your car, and you should have a most enjoyable trip.

Relax,enjoy your trip and bring back some great pics for your freinds to drool over. We haven't had any problems in our three trips down and always drive. The above poster's advise is good. Some people do experience being victims of theives, pick pockets(especially downtown San Jose) and one post on this site mentioned being shot in their vehicle just outside of Jaco. They got away and made it home but it must have been very traumatic for the family. That is the most violent report I have read concerning tourists recently. In country residents seem to suffer more than the tourists from violence. Careful in the ocean as tourists die from drowning from the riptides and panicing. Have a wonderul journey and remember to praise God for His awesome creation!

You sound like a savvy traveler and you have obviously done your research. You were comfortable with your arrangements until "friends, family and co-workers told you were crazy, you would be unsafe and you should not go?"
All of these people said this, based on what? Have they been to Costa Rica?
What do all of these people know that we don't know?

I was nervous before we went, from reading tour books. But we knew people who had been to CR previously, and everybody said they felt safe. We took our two young children, and I never felt threatened in any way. Relax, and have a great trip! I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Your "friends, family and coworkers" either don't know what they are talking about or are trying to get you 'cranked up'.

Costa Rica is not paradise by any means and theft is rampant in tourist areas but it is, in my opinion, much sater than Mexico etc. Use common sense, never leave anything of value in your vehicle, and you should be fine.

Out of the places you will be visiting, Jaco is the area in which I would be most concerned.

cheers

Jerry

Agree with everyone!

Sounds like your friends, etc are a bit jealous. I too had friends that thought we were nuts, but of course these friends had NEVER traveled out of the US, other than Cancun.

We have now traveled to CR 4 times in the past 5 years. And have visited all the areas you are traveling to. With the exception of Jaco - other than lunch and maybe an hour of wandering in and out of the shops. We have traveled by rental vehicle, domestic flights, drivers, boats, taxi - just about anyway you can get there.

Sounds like you have done your homework and know that things can happen. None of us should head off and pretend we are still in Kansas.

Today's AM Costa Rica has an article about the theives that puncture the car tire and follow until your tire goes flat. It reads that in this event to continue driving until you get to a service station or such. In case you want to read the article. http://www.amcostarica.com/

Keep your mind on the road as they are narrow winding roads sometimes full of potholes, people, animals and crazy drivers.

And watch when you are hiking - the normal, stay on the paths, watch where you put your foot, don't step over a log without looking first - oh and of course there is always that dangerous chance of twisting an ankle, which could certainly not happen at home!

Yes Costa Rica is another world that speaks Spanish, with poor roads and petty crimes. Everyone has given you a valuable piece of advice. Certainly use your common sense as a traveler, stay alert and enjoy your visit. It is a wonderful place.

Agree Jaco would be my least desired location.

What exactly are your friends concerns?

Well, we just got back a week ago after being 2 weeks in CR. It’s “funny” to read the tire puncture article because similar thing happened to us on our third day in CR. We knew in advance that this is quite common, but the way our tire was punctured was something we didn’t expect.

It happed on A1 highway while driving!! Well, not really driving but being in stop and go traffic right before the toll both not far from SJO. The car pulled up parallel to our car and I could see in the rear view mirror that the back door on the driver side got open and touched our car slightly. We didn’t make any deal out of that thinking that somebody was tossing something out and was not careful with their door. After passing the toll booth we were took the exit and then in city traffic somebody pointed to us that the tire was getting flat. We pooled to the repair shop close by and sure enough there was a hole. The mechanic right away showed us that this was a deliberate puncture (must have seen a lot of those ). Anyway they fixed it pretty fast and after paying $2 we were on our way. I guess we were lucky that we didn’t continue on the highway and had to take the exit. Who knows how it would have played if we had to stop on the highway between the exits?

Our tire story didn’t finish on that however. Later that day we were driving to La Fortuna and about 20 minutes before the town the other tire just blew up. I was about to jack the car up to do the tire change, as police car pooled over, two cups walked to me, showed me to move away and changed the tire for me. That was just nice!

You'll have a great time driving all over and exploring on your own. Just watch your stuff - don't leave anything you value in your 4x4 when you're not in it. The voice of experience speaks . ..

The most dangerous place you will be is san jose just leave there fast and cautiously. skip Jaco, it bunk; go to a real beach in the nicoya peninsula like mal pais, samara, nosara, etc.

the most important things you can do for safety is: always be very observant at all times, watch for people approaching you. Do not dress like a fool; dont wear shorts except right at the beach, dont wear white tennis shoes or pastel color clothes, wear hats allways if you look really gringo. the biggest risk is petty theft, its central america, there are lots of poor folks remember, dont bring things that are real precious, expensive, etc, like jewerly, rolexes, dont hang cameras around your neck.

pay the people with the big sticks that hang around the parking lots in front of resturants, only stay at hotels where there is a secure compound. definitely rent a 4X4, we leave it in 4 wheel drive all the time for traction, there is always a lot of runoff across the roads so there is lots of mud.

you will have an amazing time; my standard first advice is: its extremely humid, hot and there are millions of bugs, I dont know what part of north america you are from.
after this trip you will laugh at people when they talk about hawaii or cancun. Party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had to chime in here...I agree with most everyone's thoughts. Michelina01 said it quite succinctly. Local drivers are probably the most dangerous thing in the country!
I have rented suv's in CR 3 times now and I'm always told to watch out for the tire puncture trick. This thread is the first time I'd heard from someone who experienced it.
And I'm curious about the bugs comment from colote...I was there in Oct and Dec and hardly saw any bugs from Osa to Monteverde! Was I just lucky? Is there a "bug season" that I missed? I brought spray and never used it once and spent most of my time outdoors.
Go, enjoy. It's beautiful.

The bug comment struck me funny too. I've been there many times and I've been all over the country and have rarely encountered biting bugs like mosquitos, etc. Sure there are a lot of insects in the forest, but most of them seem to be the kind that leave you alone. I've had ants get into my trail mix, but I found the mosquito situation to be a huge relief compared to the US.
Sandy