a friend asked my about some tips, because she’s going to beautiful Costa Rica in a few weeks, so I thought, why not expose them to the public 🙂

para empezar i would like to mention some VERY useful apps:

• hostelworld (hostels for cheap prices – good overview and with recommendations from other travellers!! most of them have dorm and private rooms)
• Couchsurfing (another app for cheap (or no) fees. basically you text anyone who seems appealing to you, in the best case based off their hosted traveller recommendations again. you need to pay 50$ once to download the app – but if you use it regularly, it easily pays off, especially with hostel prices being higher in Costa Rica than other Central American countries)
• workaway (another cheap accommodation option, depending much on how you want to travel. this app offers work places in exchange for accommodation and sometimes even food)
• maps.me (this app will safe your life!! before you go to a new country you can download a map of the entire place and whenever you encounter yourself in a situation without wifi or internet, this will safe your ass)
• rome2rio (a great app for planning how to get from one place to another – offering you various transportation options and often also naming the price)
• currency (or any other exchange rate application – it can be really difficult, especially in the beginning, to know a countries’ exchange rate and this will safe you much time and hassle in supermarkets and elsewhere. you can add as many currencies and exchange rates as you like, so you can compare and always have an overview on how much money you’re spending)
• genius scan (this sounds banal in the beginning but sometimes we underestimate the importance of having all our documents in one folder and in good pdf quality. with this app you can take pictures of your documents and it will immediately convert them into practical pdf documents, which you can then easily share)
• tricount or splitwise (when travelling, especially in such beautiful places, it can be very tempting to lose sight on how much money you’re spending and when travelling with others, it will happen that you will pay for one another too. to have an overview over your expenses this app calculates who owes whom how much money, so you don’t have to do the math)
• airbnb (often it’s much easier using the app, than having to go through the steps in the internet, to find cheap accommodations. often it pays off, to have a look at airbnb, especially when travelling with others, because it could actually be cheaper in the end to share a room with your friends)
• UBER (it’s worth using it, because you can pay before, you’re in a safer environment than with taxis, because you track the driver and they are being tracked by their company. often it’s much cheaper too)

Costa Rica in general is a breathtaking country in various aspects. it’s especially renowned for its nature and wildlife, such as the beaches and the according beach towns. behind this – I want to call it – stage, there are still some things you should watch out for. some tips and tricks, that will safe you money and frustration.

Many people in Central America live in poorer circumstances than we do in our European bubble – so they naturally look for possibilities to generate money from the tourists. on my first day in Costa Rica I got scammed by a taxi driver, they have 1000 tricks how to get your money – so always double check when the bus is coming and trust your own instincts. don’t trust locals trying to convince you of situations, their trick is to create real “stressful” fake situations to get you into their cars. staying calm and checking the facts yourself is key, to not get tricked. it’s very common and widely accepted to negotiate prices almost everywhere (except for supermarkets) but especially when renting a bike, boat or tour you can always try and get better prices. the good thing about being a girl over there is you can definitely use that privilege to get MUCH cheaper prices. often it also makes sense to get together with others (even if you don’t really know them) because you will be offered cheaper prices for groups.

another important point when travelling is how to get your money – credit cards. I’ve travelled with many people with many different cards and I was lucky enough to have one of the best ones. REVOLUT. most travellers and backpackers will recommend this 100%. it is an online bank, that doesn’t cost you a cent except for an initial 8€ to get your physical credit card. they will mail it to you per mail service. for me, everything worked out amazingly with them. they have various options, but I took the standard one, the most simple offer and had no problems using it whatsoever. If you travel to the other side of the world, you want to ensure, that you always have access to money. there are many shops and tiendas in Central America that don’t use cards yet, it’s cash only. sometimes even the best cards will fail because the cash withdrawal machines are old, so make sure to bring TWO credit cards, the principal one being revolut (in my opinion). cash withdrawal is another important aspect you should know a thing or two about: the rumours are true, there are definitely machines that want to steal your card or scam you. during 8 months of travelling, I never got scammed by one though, so just follow a few simple rules:

• NEVER get your first cash at the airport! the exchange rates are insane, and in the cities you will find much cheaper options.
• don’t get your money from sketchy machines that are located randomly on the sideways. there are machines that look like small fridges, that could easily be carried away. don’t trust them!
• ALWAYS make sure, to get your money safely from a machine INSIDE A BANK office, or at least out front a bank.
• you will quickly find out, that there are bank chains, just like in your home country, so try and find out which one has the lowest exchange rates (just google it) and which one works best for your card. sometimes some banks will not approve your card, which is okay, so just try and find another chain.
• make sure to not take out much more money than you need and flash it openly – should be logical anyways. hide your money safely and close to your body always.

if you’re travelling with a backpack, there are some more things you should pay attention to.

• most people (including me) tend to pack for too much. I travelled for 8 months and probably only used half of the clothes I brought.
• you will have LOADS of options to wash your clothes and to safe money, you can also always wash them in the sink.
• unpopular things, that people tend to forget: various types of medicine that u use in your daily life (against headaches, bring something against food infection!! wound plasters and ointment); scissors; a sewing kid; garbage plastic bags!!; a small wallet; swimming goggles; enough woman hygiene products, because the quality there is often shit; sun protection you can also buy there, because their products are made for their climate and some also protect the corals, rather than destroy them; a hat etc for your head is lifesaving!!; a fibre towel, that dries much faster than a normal one; water sandals – REALLY good option!!; a carabiner; a water bottle (best with filter)!!!!! – Costa Rica is the only country in Central America, where you can drink the tap water!!!)
• I know it can be really hard to know what to pack, but make sure to check the standard climate at the time of the year and pack accordingly, just not too much, because that will just be annoying extra kilos for you to carry. even in rainy season, shorts and a sweatshirt will do the job, because often it rains for very few hours in the day and it can still be very humid, especially in Costa Rica.
• in the end you need to find out your own way of packing, some like using packing cubes or nets, but it’s not really necessary. normally hostel life and living out of your backpack always results in being a bit of a mess and I think I counted once how often I packed and unpacked my bag – roughly 35 times I took everything out, to sort it again and put it back in, just to do the same thing the week after. that’s just part of backpacking life 🙂
• next to your backpack it can be really helpful to bring a small fanny pack and a tote bag.
• finally, ALWAYS when leaving a place, DOUBLE CHECK if you took everything with you again, that will safe you some good money and time!!

I mentioned medicine for food poisoning for a reason. There is this balance you need to figure out yourself in Central America of eating cheap, but “healthy”. at least finding food that will stay inside you. going to restaurants all the time was never an option for me, because that’s just far too expensive, and I can think of 100 better ways of how to use that good money. in the descriptions of places on hostel world for example, you can find out if they have a kitchen – make sure they do, because it will safe you money! especially in Costa Rica the supermarkets tend to be quite expensive too, so often it will end in pasta with tomato sauce. it can be quite complicated to find fresh vegetables in CR, but you still survive easily as a vegetarian. as a backpacker, I have found it quite practical to eat a big breakfast in the morning, have some fresh fruit (mangos, star fruit, papaya, coco from the trees or cheap markets) for lunch and try to stretch my hunger until diner time. have another big meal in the evening and safe more money. in Costa Rica places called sodas are very popular and oftentimes it can be cheaper to get a meal there. the MOST popular meal is Gallo pinto everywhere in CR. it basically rice and beans (yees, that rumor is true too) with eggs and a special type of cheese. I eat it for 2 months straight, sometimes twice a day, and it turned out to be much better than thought. like with almost everything (hostels, tours, bike-rents, restaurants, even supermarkets) it makes sense to check out more than one place, to get a feeling for the prices in the town you’re in.

another topic I want to dig in shortly are vaccinations and travel insurance. concerning vaccinations, the best tip is to visit your doctor and talk with them and if their answers don’t satisfy you, go visit a tropical vaccine specialist. concerning travel insurance, there is a rather unknown trick, that really helped me: many credit card companies (not revolut sadly) offer free travel insurance. if you don’t want to do that, or it just doesn’t work for you, just compare the different offers online, that always seems to be the best option. make sure to read the pages thoroughly to not get scammed. some also have online Helpdesks, that will answer any questions. back in 2021 I travelled with Hanse Merkur, which seemed like a VERY popular option and I cannot actually tell you if they were good, because luckily I didn’t need their assistance. but going through the process and ensuring that they got everything covered that seemed important to me, without paying a fortune, worked out very well with them, at least for me.

I feel like this is a lot of information, so use the option to reread anything, or also ask me directly, if you still have any open questions. otherwise I wish you an amazing trip – get out there!! it will be one of the best times in your life ❤