Tamarindo Expensive
A soda is a small family restaurant, and the casado — rice, beans, plantain, salad and a protein — is the best value meal in the country. Ceviche and fresh fish are excellent all along this coast.
Budget travel in Costa Rica
What a visitor's money does in Costa Rica: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Expensive average across 1 guide · 5 is very cheap
Money
Costa Rican Colon (CRC) · 1 EUR = 514 CRC · 1 USD = 448 CRC
US dollars circulate freely in tourist areas and are quoted for tours and rentals, but paying in colones at local sodas and shops is cheaper. Costa Rica is noticeably more expensive than its neighbours.
ATMs
Avoid: machines in surf shops and bars on the main strip
Use: Banco Nacional, BAC, Banco de Costa Rica
Machines dispense both colones and dollars — take colones, and expect around $5 per withdrawal for a foreign card.
Getting around
A short ride in Tamarindo: ₡2,000–5,000 across town — middling
From the airport: San José airport to the centre ₡12,000–18,000
Under the red official taxis. Ride-hailing has never been formally legalised here and has operated anyway since 2015.
City by city, cheapest first
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
