It is very common to go to a new country, with a different culture and a different language, and feel completely lost!  So we have carefully chosen useful tips to help you have a better and safer trip to Costa Rica.

The money

The Costa Rican coin is called colones (in plural), represented by this symbol ¢ and it has a low value, so don't be surprised to be charged thousands of colones. 

1 us dollar, represents around ¢540 (the exchange rate keeps changing), but to make it easier to understand it, you can think of 500, so if you exchange $20 you will get more or less ¢10,000.  You can exchange money at the banks, although most of the tourist places will accept us dollars.  You can exchange a part of your money and keep another, for when you are charged in us dollars.  Most of the tourist areas have choices of banks and ATM's, there are public and private banks, the public banks (have the name of Costa Rica in the name) might give you a better rate, but may not be as fast as the private banks.

Try to find out before going to different places, if your future destinations have banks and ATM's. 

Major credit cards are accepted around the country, with a proper identification. Some places might try to charge an extra percentage for purchasing with credit cards, but it is NOT legal; unless you are trying to get money in return.