Swampdog

Will I be Ok with MC or do you should I get a Visa? Thanks

gypsyluce

all depends where you are travelling to, let us know, Brasil and mastercard is not easy!, argentina at times but not usually for withdrawing money but rather paying, peru and bolivia usually fine

Swampdog

Thank You, we will be in Costa Rico in early April, first time.
Regards

Debi

Never had trouble with either MC or Visa or my bank ATM (except in El Salvador one trip).

Jeff_Costa_Rica

There was a time when Visa was the best card to have for travel in Costa Rica, but that doesn't apply these days. While you'll find a few Visa-only ATMs, most machines accept Visa and MasterCard these days. There are a very few businesses that take Visa only, but most take MasterCard too. You should be fine.

Swampdog

Thank You, Regards

volcanogirl

We didn't have any problems using MasterCard in CR.

alarmist

Is there a problem with american express. Don't know whether to bring or not.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

It doesn't hurt to bring an American Express card. It's not quite as popular as Visa and Mastercard. There are very few ATMs that give cash with an Amex card, however.

For what this is worth, there are four credit-card processors in Costa Rica. Depending on which one a business uses, it can accept:

1) Visa only
2) Visa & Mastercard
3) Visa, Mastercard & American Express
4) Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club & Discover.

These days, the fourth group is the largest. The Visa-only group is very small.

Of course, there are businesses that don't take credit cards at all.