Halfway through our casual afternoon stroll in a beautiful beachside town located on the Caribbean Coast, something caught our eye in a tree beside the road. To our amazement, we saw a sloth with their baby relaxing in the trees. This was just one of the many animals we would see in our time in Costa Rica, a beautiful country with so much to offer. A beautiful but expensive country, here is our guide to Costa Rica on a Budget.
Our Guide to Cost Rica
Recommended Trip Length: 8-10 days
Our Daily Trip Budget (per person): $60 AUD/day
Our Favourite Locations: La Fortuna, Monteverde, Cahuita
What We’d Change From Our Trip: Spend longer exploring the many biodiverse nature parks and beaches, visit the Nicoya Peninsula and Drake Bay
Favourite Foods: Casado
*This budget figure is based on our travel expenses during our time in the country. For a more detailed breakdown of what we spent, click here.
Visa Information
A visa is not generally required for Costa Rica for stays up to 90 days for Australians. However, there is a catch for entering… Costa Rica is one of the strictest countries ensuring people don’t stay in the country, and you may get asked to provide proof of onward travel. If you fail to provide proof, you may not be allowed into the country. This is because quite a few people live “illegally” in Costa Rica.
We crossed the land border from Nicaragua via Penas Blancas, and we were not asked to provide proof. However, this may not be the case if you enter the country via the airport, so we would definitely recommend having proof of onward travel.
Transport
We would consider Costa Rica one of the easiest countries to catch public transport. Information is available online and the bus stops are easily to find. The buses are generally in good condition (not like chicken buses in other Central American countries), but may be quite busy.
Destinations
Costa Rica is a well-traveled country and we think has the most developed tourism infrastructure in Central America. It is a very common country for first-time visitors to Central America – and is quite friendly and safe. We would recommend staying 8-14 days in Costa Rica (if you can afford it…)! Obviously Costa Rica is not a cheap place, so the longer you stay the more money you spend! Here is our itinerary for Costa Rica on a budget:
La Fortuna – 4 nights – The adventure capital of Costa Rica. Very touristy, but many activities to do. Read more on this post for our “budget” guide to La Fortuna
Monteverde – 3 nights – Doorstep to the Costa Rican cloud forests. We volunteered here for 2 weeks which you can read about here
San Jose – 1 night – The capital city of Costa Rica – we only spent 1 night here in transit to Cahuita
Cahuita – 3 nights – A lovely local town on the Caribbean coast. Read more for our recommendations below!
There are some more destinations we would love to visit in Costa Rica, but we unfortunately ran out of time – which means we’ll have to come back! These locations include the Nicoya Peninsula (one of the world’s blue zones), Drake Bay (the birthing place of sea turtles), and Parque Nacional Tortuguero.
Cahuita
Why Cahuita?
When choosing our final destination to spend a few nights in Costa Rica, we were torn between visiting the Pacific Coast and staying in a location such as Manuel Antonio, or the Caribbean Coast at Cahuita or Puerto Viejo. After a bit of research we discovered that Cahuita seemed like the less developed destination compared to the touristy Puerto Viejo or resort-town Manuel Antonio. Cahuita is a smaller town and although it has less facilities, we loved the beachy community feel, and the easy access to the national park was a highlight. Due to this, we found it a bit cheaper, and a great destination for Costa Rica on a budget.
How to get there?
To get to Cahuita from San Jose, you can catch the bus from Terminal Atlántico Norte. The bus goes all the way to Puerto Viejo, with a few stops along the way (including Cahuita). The bus timetable is available at the bus stop and the times are 6am, 8am, 10am, 12pm (Friday, Saturday, Sunday only), 2pm, and 4pm. We would recommend buying your ticket the day before in person, or arriving early. We arrived 30 minutes before our 10am bus on Friday, and we had to buy a ticket for the next one in 2.5 hours (which also sold out shortly after we bought our ticket!). It was very busy!
We also have a blog on getting to Cahuita from Monteverde here
Where to Stay?
Only one recommendation for you – Hakuna Matata Hostel. This hostel is well located, a 5-10 min walk to the National Park and beaches, a well-stocked supermarket next door, and just slightly out of the main town busy street to avoid the noise. The hostel has nice facilities including a kitchen and pool, the staff are friendly, and it’s a really relaxing vibe.
Where to Eat?
Unfortunately eating out in Costa Rica was outside our budget, so we cooked most of the time. The supermarket next to our hostel was well-stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, so we even tried cooking our own version of the local cuisine (we think our plantains tasted amazing…). There is also a local food market on sundays, which is located on the main street towards the north.
What to See?
Cahuita is a beautiful town to relax at for a few days. We would recommend spending a whole day at the Parque Nacional Cahuita as there is a lot of wildlife to see, and there is a beautiful white sand beach to swim. There is also a long walking trail (8km one-way) around the edge of the park. If you want to do this, we would recommend starting early in the morning (park opens at 8am) as the rangers do not let you past Playa Punta from 2pm (as the park closes at 4pm).
The walk is lovely, and we saw so much wildlife. You can get a guide to help spot wildlife, but we saw enough without one (and sometimes we could stop behind a guided group to see what they were looking at!).
If you are planning on having lunch in Nacional Parque, we would recommend to avoid eating at the Punta. This is where all the animals are and they will dive into your bags (or rip your bag) to steal your food. Either eat further away, or keep a careful eye on your bag!
Cahuita is also a beautiful town to take a stroll. One our first day we went for a casual walk to the beach and saw a sloth and baby on the side of the road in a tree – keep your eyes open as there is wildlife everywhere!
There are also several other beaches to explore such as Playa Negra which are great to spend an afternoon at.
Although Costa Rica is a well-traveled country, there are still many hidden gems left to explore. It’s a great country for an introduction to Central America, with beautiful beaches, forests and wildlife. We enjoyed our time in Costa Rica and will definitely be back to explore more! If you enjoyed our guide to Costa Rica on a budget and want to read more, check out our blog posts below!
