hello everyone are you planning to go to Costa Rica soon if so I have nine things you need
to know before you go to make your trip planning easier
are you new to this channel consider subscribing and hit that like button also things are changing
so rapidly that I put many links below so you can check back often all people traveling
to costa Rica must fill out an online health pass from the Costa Rican government so what
you need to do is you need to fill it out 72 hours prior to departure you also need
to fill out the pass for every single person in your family including children and again
make sure you do that before you hit the airport and then what will happen is you will receive
a QR code that you will need for entry into the country Costa Rica is one of the few countries
that doesn't require vaccine against cover 19 to visit also you don't have to present
a negative covid test or you don't have to quarantine however if you are vaccinated you
have to purchase travel insurance in case you get covid 19 if you are fully vaccinated
or under the age of 18 you only have to fill out the health pass if you are unvaccinated
you have to attach an insurance certificate to your health pass when you complete your
health pass you will be sent a QR code and a tip on this is you can either print it out
to bring it with you or take a screenshot as you present it when you enter into Costa
Rica as a side note you should always check the government website to see what other vaccinations
might be recommended for example hepatitis a and hepatitis b and tetanus are typically
recommended before going to Costa Rica if you are unvaccinated and need to purchase
insurance there are a few approved companies from the Costa Rican government I've put links
below so you can check them out make sure you get quotes from them and then also check
with your own travel insurance company the insurance company will have to provide you
with a certificate or letter and make sure that they include your full name the dates
that you're traveling and that you have the minimum coverage which is fifty thousand dollars
for medical expenses and also two thousand dollars for travel interruption or in the
case that you need to quarantine with the Costa Rican companies some of their policies
say a minimum of 20 000 medical insurance just make sure that you ask those questions
before purchasing the insurance certificate must say that the policy covers covid 19 and
also do not forget to upload it to your health pass when you are filling it out even if you
are exempt from this travel insurance always make sure that you purchase travel insurance
in case something goes wrong also let your insurance company know what activities you're
going to be participating in because most often it requires extra insurance like for
example if you're going to be scuba diving or doing ziplining or even some other activities
which require additional insurance the rules change really quickly but currently masks
are required in all indoor public spaces such as airports hotels restaurants malls grocery
stores and things like that you don't need to wear a mask outside unless you are unable
to socially distance although costa rica is fairly open there's still a few restrictions
to be aware of hotels more than 100 rooms are at about 75% capacity bars are at about
25% capacity and then businesses are closed at about 10 pm beaches are open from 5am to
8pm and currently there is no activities with large group gatherings like concerts sporting
events fairs and things like that also make sure to check with any tourism companies for
any activities that you want to do to make sure they're open and also find out what the
cancellation policies are in case you are pre-booking and they have to cancel there's
a lot of important information you need to know when departing Costa Rica and getting
back into your own country everyone leaving Costa Rica has to pay a departure tax which
is $29 U.S. you can pay it at the airport prior to leaving on your flight sometimes
you can pay it at the hotel and some airlines actually included in the fee but make sure
you check with your airlines to see if the fee is included one of the most important
parts of planning your trip is to check the government website for the re-entry rules
into your country I've put a link below for Canada and U.S. so you can see what the requirements
are for example the U.S. and Canada require that you provide a negative covid test within
72 hours of departing also each of the countries require their own different types of tests
so make sure you check your government website to see which test is required there are many
places in Costa Rica to get the required test even some hotels provide tests as well as
at the airport I've provided a link below to the various places that you can get tests
it is in Spanish but it does have phone numbers that you can call to find out what the requirements
are and what their hours are the costs also vary quite a bit you can pay anywhere from
sixty dollars all the way as high as three hundred dollars so again do your research
and I would do this before arriving in Costa Rica just to make things as smooth as possible
once you're there the times for getting the test back do vary so make sure again that
you ask that question some come back as quickly as 8 hours up to as much as 24 hours and even
a little bit longer so again do your research prior to departing I've mentioned this before
in another Costa Rica video but when you go pick up your car rental you are required to
purchase third-party liability insurance and this isn't shown usually when you do your
price comparison so it could come in as quite a shock our car rental went up by like 300
bucks when we went to pick it up that was a huge surprise so just make sure that you're
aware of that when you're booking your rentals this cost is not covered by your credit card
or your home insurance like it is in other countries that you travel to so just make
sure that you're aware of that when you're booking your rental if you have an unlocked
phone you can buy a prepaid sim card at the Kolbi which is their national telecommunications
company there's one at the San Jose airport but unfortunately not one at the Liberia airport
you can buy them at most drugstores and supermarket you can also check with your car rental company
as they sometimes have them as well to buy a sim card you will need your passport and
you will have to fill out a form the charge is three dollars and fifty cents administration
fee plus whatever amount you're putting on your sim card the colones is the currency
of Costa Rica us dollars and credit cards are widely accepted and there are many atm
machines as well which is what we use we usually bring us cash and colones with us that just
makes us feel a little bit more prepared rather than scrambling when we get to the airport
and then after we use up that money we typically use ATMs and credit cards so what we did is
we used colones at like the smaller shops gift shops mom and pop restaurants and fruit
stands and things of that nature because you're just not sure what they're going to give you
for a U.S. exchange rate so for us we brought a thousand dollars split between U.S. cash
and colones and that got us through most of our trip a word of advice make sure you let
your credit card company know that you're leaving the country and going to Costa Rica
we had this happen to us we forgot to let them know and then we arrived in a country
and our credit card was blocked and we did not have any extra cash on us so it was really
stressful at the time still at the airport in Bali second or challenge number two we
are unable to retrieve cash from any of the bank machines so we can't catch a cab it's
late at night I don't know what time it is 11 maybe I don't know happy new year but we
have no money no money we only have about four dollars we suggest not using your main
credit card and then changing your pin once you get home although we were super careful
about our credit card we actually did not change the pin and then a bunch of charges
showed up on the card a few weeks later so take it from us we hope this information is
valuable in helping you plan your trip to Costa Rica I know it's a little harder right
now but a lot of planning does go a really long way also don't forget to check out our
other Costa Rica videos for awesome tips awesome beaches to see and things to do don't forget
to subscribe and hit that like button see you in the next video