The official currency of Costa Rica is the colón, and the dollar is frequently used as the benchmark currency. The colón is subdivided into céntimos, with a total of 100 units. In everyday conversation, Costa Ricans may sometimes refer to their currency as “pesos” (the previous currency) or “cañas”. The symbol for the colón is a letter C crossed by two vertical bars “?”.
The coins display on their reverse side their value and on their obverse side the coat of arms of the Republic of Costa Rica. These last three coins are the ones you will use most frequently. 100 (colloquially called “tejas”) and 500 colones, 50, 25, 10, 5, 1 (although it has not been officially withdrawn, it is very rare to find it due to its low value), coins are in circulation.
The Costa Rican currency consists of bills of 50000 and 20000 colones, as well as 10000, 5000, 2000, and 1000 colones. Each bill features illustrious Costa Rican figures on the front and represents one of the country’s six ecosystems. While the bills have different colors, their width remains the same, and they are designed to assist people with visual impairments.
You will not have any problem making payments in dollars in many places, as the exchange rates are directly indicated in that currency, so you will not have any issues with most tourist establishments.
The BCR (Costa Rican Bank) and the BN (National Bank) are the largest networks that share the national banks, operating ATMs throughout the country.
The subcontracted company charges an additional commission for this service in this case. For this purpose, private banks resort to external hiring and usually do not have their own ATM distribution service.
You can also find ATMs at many gas stations.
When using public transportation or dining at small restaurants, it is always necessary to carry some cash for payments. However, you will be able to use internationally recognized credit cards (primarily Visa, MasterCard, and American Express) at the vast majority of tourist establishments, hotels, shops, and restaurants.
Always keep in mind that you will have a commission to make in case you change offices and banks, in addition to being able to travel checks accepted by many restaurants and hotels as well.
You can exchange euros and dollars at the BCR (Banco de Costa Rica) or the BN (Banco Nacional) and at some hotels. Keep in mind that there are usually long queues of people at the banks and you may lose a lot of time. To exchange currency, try to avoid the airport exchange offices, as the rates applied there are much higher than those applied elsewhere.
In certain situations, the prevailing conversion rate of euros to dollars may not be favorable if you are a European traveler with euros in your possession. The highly suggested choice would be to convert euros into dollars in Europe and then, upon arrival in Costa Rica, convert those dollars into colones or use them directly for payment. It is important to note that on occasions, 50 and 100 dollar bills may not be accepted due to concerns about counterfeit currency. Furthermore, it is not advisable to carry 500 € bills as they can only be exchanged at specific banks, typically with a higher commission than usual.