Costa Rica Guide
Money
The official currency of Costa Rica is the colón (plural colones), named after Colón (Columbus) himself. There are two types of coins in circulation: the old silver ones, which come in denominations of 5, 10 and 20, and newer gold coins, which come in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500. The silver and gold coins are completely interchangeable, with the exception of public payphones, which don't accept all gold coins. Notes are available in 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,000. You'll often hear colones colloquially referred to as "pesos"; in addition, the 1000 is sometimes called the "rojo" (red). The colón floats freely against the American dollar, which in practice has meant that it devalues by some 10% per year; at the time of writing it was around 520 colones to the $1. Obtaining colones outside Costa Rica is virtually impossible: wait until you arrive and get some at the airport or border posts.
Outside San José there are effectively no official bureaux de change in Costa Rica – the Juan Santamaría airport does have one, but service is very slow and rather surly. In general, legitimate money-changing entails going to a bank, a hotel (usually upper-range) or, in outlying areas of the country, to whoever will do it – a tour agency, the friend of the owner of your hotel who has a Chinese restaurant … That said, it's unlikely that you'll need to change US dollars into colones, as dollars are accepted almost everywhere. If you do, or if you are changing other currencies such as sterling or euros, you'll find that the efficient and air-conditioned private banks (most of which are in San José) are much faster but charge scandalous commissions. Private banks in San José include Banco Mercantil, Banco Metropolitano, Banco Popular, Banco de San José, BANEX and Banco del Comercio. The state banks such as the Banco Nacional don't charge such high commissions but are slow and bureaucratic.
When heading for the more remote areas, try to carry sufficient colones with you, especially in small denominations – you may have trouble changing a 5000 bill in the middle of the Nicoya Peninsula, for example. Going around with stacks of mouldy-smelling colones may not seem safe, but you should be all right if you keep them in a money belt, and it will save hours of time waiting in line. Some banks may not accept bent, smudged or torn dollars, although street traders usually will. It's also worth noting that, due to a recent influx of counterfeit $100 bills, some shops, and even banks, are unwilling to accept them. If you bring any into the country, make sure that they are in mint condition. For more on banking hours, see "Holidays, festivals and opening hours".