Costa Rica Travel Guide
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Guide
Costa Rica wants proof you plan to leave. All non-residents need a ticket for a return flight or equivalent, and the official tourism board says that can be a pre-purchased bus ticket out of the country, a pre-purchased flight, or passage on a cruise ship. It is mandatory if you arrive on a one-way ticket, if your return ticket is more than 90 days after arrival, or if you are exiting from a different country. Travelers are also expected to show economic means of at least US$100 per month or partial month of planned stay.
The stay depends on the passport. Citizens of the first group of countries get up to 180 days, non-extendable, and everyone else up to 30 days, some extendable, with the immigration officer deciding on the day. A passport must be machine readable in line with ICAO standards.
Leaving by land has a price. Everyone departing on foot or by car pays a land exit tax of 8 dollars per person, every time, made up of 5 dollars for the tax itself, 2 dollars for phytosanitary scanning, and 1 dollar for animal health inspection through SENASA. There is no residency exemption. It can be paid online through bancobcr.com with a Visa or Mastercard, or in person at Banco de Costa Rica locations, including border posts at Sixaola, Peñas Blancas, Tablillas, and Sabalito, its Paso Canoas branch about 150 meters south of the crossing, and its Liberia business center.
Border crossings
- Peñas Blancas, the main crossing into Nicaragua
Guides place it about 90 minutes north of Liberia on the Pan-American Highway and give hours of 6 am to 10 pm, closing at 8 pm on Sundays. The whole process takes one to three hours, and guides suggest carrying small US bills, since various fees run to around 25 to 27 dollars.
- Paso Canoas, for Panama
Guides describe it as one of the busiest and most chaotic land borders in Central America. Guides list hours of 6 am to 10 pm on weekdays and 6 am to 8 pm on weekends, in Costa Rica time, with Panama one hour ahead, and processing often takes three to five hours, with border staff changing shifts at 2 pm.
- Sixaola and Guabito, over the old railway
A crossing closest to the Caribbean coast that guides say most tourists use. Pedestrians walk over a bridge with the old railway tracks laid in 1908, with vehicles on a central lane, and it is open in daylight hours only, roughly 8 am to 5 pm Panama time. Guides estimate about 100,000 tourists cross it every year.
Transit routes
- A bus ticket counts as your onward ticket
The tourism board explicitly lists a pre-purchased bus ticket out of the country as acceptable proof of departure, which matters for anyone traveling overland through Central America.
- Pay the exit tax online before you reach the border
The 8 dollar payment can be made in advance through Banco de Costa Rica's website, which avoids an extra queue at the border itself.
Entry point notes
- Some of the requirements are checked, some are not
The onward ticket and money requirements are on the official list, and travelers on a one-way ticket, or exiting through a different country, are the ones most likely to be asked.
- Land and air departure are handled differently
The exit tax described above applies specifically to land departures. Bus companies sometimes include it in their fare, so ask before you pay twice.