Tips to explore Costa Rica in a budget.

You will love this 5 tips that will help you to travel Costa Rica in a budget.
Costa Rica it’s a green country considered one of the most rich in biodiversity. As soon as you cross the border with the neighbors you can see the difference: no trash, organized, a lot of different trees, fruits, birds, and wildlife. It’s easy to fall in love.
But…. It’s too expensive, compared with USA or Europe.
Anyway, I could travel Costa Rica with the same budget. And here I tell you how:
1) book your stays directly - search your accommodation in the normal search websites and Google for a direct contact. Get in touch with the owner. He will offer you immediately 15-25% discount, maybe more if you stay longer. And you will make a friend.
Other option for accommodation it’s couchsurfing. I didn’t but I listened from the locals that there are a huge community of couch surfers in Costa Rica. You can always check it out.
2) cook your meals - stay in places where you can cook (hostels, studios) and you will save a lot. It’s good to go to eat outside sometimes but you don’t need to do it everyday. The food in Costa Rica it’s quite similar with the neighbor countries where the same breakfast (for example) it’s 3 times cheaper.
3) take public transportation - as a touristy country you will find a lot of shuttle services to transfer you from one place to other. The prices are 8 to 10 times more expensive than the public transports. In Costa Rica the buses are comfortable so don’t need to go in shuttles.
And more: you will meet the locals and the Ticos real life. I meet the best people traveling by bus and I was able to experience and see things that I wouldn’t traveling as a tourist
4) walk around the places you stay - you will find free hot springs, amazing views to the volcanoes with no need to pay an entrance in a park, amazing view points… that the tourists not even imagine, so busy they are to do all the touristic offers
5) talk with the locals and visit what they visit - before start to book tours, talk with the locals and ask them what they already visit and what they recommend you to do. They know the place. You will have an idea what really worth to be visited
I traveled Costa Rica with a budget of $25 day, visiting parks (taking public buses to reach them or walking), hot springs, lakes and enjoying a lot.
My 9 years travel experience tells me that it’s always possible to travel expensive countries in low budget. You need to invest a little more time searching and talking with locals, but travel it’s not about exactly that? 😇
Let me know if this tips helped you.
Namaste 🙏