The currency unit is the colon (¢). Bills come in denominations of ¢50 to ¢10,000, and coins from 1 to 20 colones in the silver colored coins, and 1 to 100 colones in the newer gold colored coins. The exchange rate is around ¢426 (CRC) to the dollar (USD). The colon "floats" against the dollar, so rates change all the time.

For current, up to the minute exchange rates, visit:
http://finance.yahoo.com/

If you’d like to get an idea of what Costa Rican coins and bills look like, visit:
http://www.costarica.com/business/currency.html

Traveler's checks are accepted at most hotels, restaurants and stores. Visa/MasterCard are not accepted as widely in Costa Rica as they are in the U.S. but many hotels, restaurants and stores accept credit cards. Some souvenir stores will give you discounts for paying cash and not using a credit card.

If you wait to exchange any money until you arrive in Costa Rica as you will get a better rate in country. Hotels and banks will change traveler’s checks into colones for a small fee. Hotels usually charge 1 – 3 colones per dollar and banks charge around a $2 flat fee per transaction. When exchanging money or cashing traveler’s checks, however, banks and hotels are very particular. If the dollars or travelers checks are defaced in any way, they will not accept them. Most banks are open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m..

Some of our itineraries include travel to remote parts of the country where there are no banks and the hotels can run short on colones. So it is important to let us know when you are running low on colones, so that we can be sure that you exchange a sufficient amount when possible. There are ATM’s in many cities and some towns, however and you can use your ATM card (Plus system) to get up to 200,000 colones per day. You can also get cash advances using a credit or debit card at a local bank.

CALL AN IAU TRAVEL PLANNER AT  800-990-9738