Helpful Information

• Nuevo Arenal – There are 5 grocery stores in Nuevo Arenal.  The largest store is Super Compro. A few doors down and across the street is Super Mas. A newer grocery, Super Arenal, is just to your right before you get to the main intersection coming into town.  Down the main road in town, you’ll find a hardware store, pharmacy, fruit and vegetable stand, bakery and meat market within steps of the grocery stores.
• Aguacate – There is a small grocery store in Aguacate located just east of Turtle Cove.
• Tilaran – About 25 minutes west is a larger town called Tilarán. There are many grocery stores and restaurants there.
• La Fortuna – Located about 60 minutes east is the touristy town of La Fortuna. You can arrange tours here, shop for souvenirs and just have a fun time. The restaurants are plentiful!
• Gasoline – there are gas stations in Arenal, Tilarán and La Fortuna. Don’t let your tank go down to empty! All gas stations are full-service.
• Mercado Feria Aguacate (El Aguacate Farmer’s Market) – held the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month from 9:30am until 1pm. Just past El Corral Restaurant take the road to your left at yellow church, feria in the soccer field on your left. A fun event and you can find some tasty local treats!

The unit of currency in Costa Rica is the Colon, plural Colones. The exchange rate fluctuates but for a rough idea, you can generally estimate 600+ Colones to 1 US$.

Currency bills you will see most commonly in Costa Rica are the 10,000 Colones (=US$15), 5,000 Colones (=US$8), 2,000 Colones (=US$3) and 1,000 Colones (=US$1.50) bills. Coins are big and heavy – 500, 100, 50, 10 and 5 are commonplace.

You will find that you can get away without changing US dollars into Costa Rica currency at most places – you pay in US dollars, and sometimes you get US$ back, sometimes CR Colones. Shops where locals shop (grocery, gas, pharmacy, hardware etc.) will give you all change in Colones, bills and coins. Either way you can almost always pay in dollars and not have a problem.  Just note though that they will not necessarily give you a favorable conversion rate, so pulling out colones from a local ATM machine may save you some money.

Change is sometimes an issue in Costa Rica, especially on weekends, so try to bring lots of SMALL bills. Costa Rican vendors have become a little cautious about US $100 bills.

You can go to the Kolbi/ICE booth at the airport and purchase a SIM card for your phone (if it is an “unlocked” phone) – this will be a new Costa Rica phone number.  If your phone is not “unlocked,” you can purchase an inexpensive phone to use for Costa Rica and international calls. You might even be able to get your phone service provider to “unlock” your phone for the trip if it is “locked.”  Also note that wifi is widely available, so the use of Skype, Messenger, and Whatsapp are also calling options.

• Copy of your passport (with the stamp showing your date of entry and 90 days) to be kept separately from the real one
• Rain jacket or poncho; umbrella
• Water Shoes (Teva closed-toe sandals are great for hiking in the mud and going to the waterfalls/hot springs – old tennis shoes work also)
• Hat
• Fanny Pack is great for touring/hiking
• Hair Dryer
• Binoculars/Camera
• Zip-lock plastic bags (good for keeping things dry and storing snacks)
• Plastic water bottle
• Insect repellant & sunscreen

A great web-site with tons of information is www.costaricaguide.com. The couple who manage it can help you plan your vacation. They offer lots of free advice and tips and have produced a wonderful map of Costa Rica.