Plan a Dream Vacation in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is the perfect vacation destination! Costa Rica is a small country located in Central America situated between Panama to the south and Nicaragua to the north. As a tourist Costa Rica is an excellent destination because of it's warmer tropical weather (especially as a winter getaway if you live in North America), awesome sites to see, activities and extremely low cost! You can vacation to Costa Rica year round or join the large and growing ex-pat community and live full or part time.

Unlike some third world countries Costa Rica is very safe for tourists, the government and related workers (like the police) are generally friendly towards the people while being a stable country. You don't need to worry about violent crime other than pickpockets and theft but use common sense... don't hang out in seedy parts of San Jose or big cities after dark. If you are doing something unscrupulous (like sex tourism or buying drugs) you place yourself at a higher risk for violent crime. You will see bars on windows, doors and around yards for stopping petty theft.

The local people or Tico's as they are known, are generally very friendly towards North Americans often saying hello when passing them on the street. Lastly in the food and water is safe to eat and drink... if you use common sense.

Driving around in Costa Rica can be quite a challenge and nerve racking if you aren't ready for it... The main issues with driving in Costa Rica is that there are no street addresses (a typical address is along the lines of "200 meters north and 300 meters west of the church") and the roads are poorly maintained, basically what a person would expect in a third world country. You can almost always spot a tourist when they are driving since its quite easy to get lost especially when driving around in the big city like San Jose or some of the outlying areas like Heredia and Escazu.

Adding to the bad road conditions and lack of signage the people also drive insanely considering most "highways" are barely wider than one lane... This is especially true in the mountains where you share the roads with large buses and cutting through steep terrain. In additional there are almost always lots of street vendors out in the middle of the road hocking their wares.

You can however quite comfortably rely on the bus and taxi system to get you around San Jose and the nearby provinces... Official taxis are a bright orange/red in color with a yellow triangle on the door. You can hail a Costa Rican taxi pretty easily.

The taxi system in Costa Rica is also inexpensive, if you where to get totally lost in the San Jose valley a $20 US taxi ride should get you back to just about anyplace. If you are on a budget and need to travel any distance taking a bus is the way to go.

San Jose is the capitol city set in a huge valley with several towns around it including Heredia, Alajuela and Escazu. Alajuela is where the Juan Santamaria international airport is located and Escazu is the "gringo" side of town where a lot of ex-pats and North Americans have settled in along with what you would expect to see in any US town including fast food restaurants and even a Tony Roma.

A favorite tourist destination is the Arenal volcano area which is about a three hour drive from San Jose. Arenal is an active volcano with several hot springs you can dip in along with world class resorts and a large lake for windsurfing and fishing for the prized guapote (rainbow bass). La Fortuna is just down the road from Arenal and has a great open air restaurant with good food. At night if you drive around the backside of Arenal down a dirt road (just follow all the other cars going there) you can watch the lava flows down the side of the mountain.

If you want to go to the ocean most tourists chose the Pacific Ocean side at Jaco beach, Quepos and Playa Hermosa... A favorite with the surfers. These are also popular destinations for the surfing crowd although at Jaco there is a bit of a rip-tide you need to be cautious about. There is also a great canopy tour and ziplines near Jaco. Generally you do not go over to the Carribean ocean at Limon due to higher crime.

Aside from being a great destination for a vacation there is a large and ever growing community of ex-patriots and North Americans living in Costa Rica for the great weather and friendly people.

You can live in Costa Rica full or part time without becoming a resident.

A large majority of North Americans reside in Escazu near San Jose, the gringo side of town, since it is like living in any US city with all the same amenities you would want. However rents in Escazu are a bit more expensive then if you live among the locals in Alajuela or Heredia... If you plan on moving to Costa Rica and are on a budget get out a hotel as soon as practical since you can easily rent a decent house in an area capable of getting high speed Internet access for about $300 a month.

If you plan on vacationing in Costa Rica be sure to check out how to find vacation rental homes in Costa Rica so you can hook up a good hotel or other place to stay.