After reading two great articles about Costa Rica one describing how beautiful Costa Rica is and how great a place it is to retire  Ten great reasons to retire in Costa Rica and a second saying that Costa Rica is a little hyped, an article called Retiring in Costa Rica .I decided to give my tuppence worth. I’m currently travelling/working in Costa Rica, I have been here for a little over two weeks and I have to say so far so good but I do agree it is a little over hyped. Below I’ve outlined 5 great and 5 not so great things about Costa Rica.

Great Things

1) The people are genuinely nice!

In my opinion this is something that tourists often say about the people from the country they just visited. I often suspect this is because they only saw the inside of a restaurant or hotel where the waiter is paid to be nice to them. In Costa Rica however people are helpful and smile a lot this helps put you at ease and feel at home.

2) Amazing beaches

When you hear people rant on about how beautiful the Costa Rican beaches are they are not exaggerating, the beaches are absolutely amazing. Just check out the picture above, and as of yet the beaches aren’t overly crowded, so no fighting for towel space or no rubbish buried in the sand, not yet anyways

3) Costa Rican Real Estate

Houses are cheap here, both to buy and to rent. I saw in advertisement in my local supermarket today for a two bedroom house with an ocean view for $350 a month, fully furnished. Now that’s a deal. The Costa Rican real estate market hasn’t boomed yet but I’m guessing it will.

4) The Climate

It’s hot 12 months of the year, yes sunshine and more sunshine, however this is both a great thing and a not so great thing.

5) Biodiversity

There are more animals and plants than one would care to count. The colours from the animals and plants are truly amazing. You’ll see things here that you won’t see anywhere else in the world. Except maybe in Disneyworld or Vegas!

The not so great things

1) Things aren’t as cheap as you expect

Although real estate in Costa Rica is relatively cheap the price of food in your local supermarkets isn’t. If you’re used to a western diet be prepared to pay over the odds for eating the way your used to in Costa Rica. Foods that we take for granted turn out to be expensive here; cheese and most other dairy products are expensive. However fruits and vegetables are cheaper and better for you. This may not affect you if you’re on holiday as you eat out most nights (relatively cheap) but if your cooking in it does take its toll.

2) Infrastructure

Getting around Costa Rica is difficult, roads are treacherous and trains are non existent. A lot of roads both primary and secondary are merely mud tracks. The road system here is bad I wouldn’t advise renting a car unless you have a death wish. Walking is equally dangerous; most roads don’t have a footpath.

3) Climate

Sun 12 months a year, sounds great! Right? Well here it can be just too hot sometimes; the heat mixed with the humidity can just be too much. I guess it depends on where you’re from and what you’re used to. In my case I’m Irish we are not known for sun worshipping. Also, during rainy season there’s the daily storm. I don’t mean an hour of rain followed by rainbows and sunshine, these storms usually last a couple of hours and are accompanied with thunder and lightning.

4) So many animals!

Okay, biodiversity is great but when it involves frogs jumping into your room at night, giant spiders, snakes, racoons stealing your food on the beach and so on and so forth it can get too much. I’m an outdoorsy guy, I love animals, but here you wonder sometimes if the animals or the humans are in charge.

5) It is beginning to fill up!

Costa Rica is fast becoming one of the most popular tourist/retiree destinations in the world. Who wouldn’t want to come to live in Costa Rica, with beautiful landscape, beaches and cheap real estate it’s the place to be at the moment. It also has a stable democratic government. However, this all has a downside, tourism is booming and I think the tranquillity and beauty of Costa Rica may be spoilt over time.

Costa Rica over all is a great place but like everywhere it is not without its disadvantages. Before I arrived here I expected a lot more, mainly due to the fact that people spoke so highly of it. I guess when something is spoken so highly of its hard for it to live up to its reputation. However don’t let me put your off visiting but just remember it is not perfect!