Brief things about costa rica

There are two international airports in Costa Rica: Aeropuerto Internacional Aeropuerto Juan Santamaría and Daniel Oduber. The Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría is the main airport. It lies about 17 km from the capital and receives flights from major international airlines. You'll find everything you need: currency exchange, car rental, duty free, etc..

Taxis are readily available outside the airport (reservations available online). The trip to San Jose is expected to cost between 7000 and 9000 colones. You can also take a bus across from the airport that can take you into town.

The Aeropuerto Daniel Oduber, smaller, is located in Guanacaste near Liberia (17 km south). The planes that land there is essentially domestic flights.

Time difference

There are 7 or 8 am shift between France and Costa Rica. When it is noon in France, Costa Rica is 5 hours in winter and 4 hours in summer.

Electricity

The voltage is 110 volts and 60 cycles. It is therefore necessary to bring U.S. flat plugs.

Schedule

- Banks are usually open Monday to Saturday from 8h to 17h, sometimes until late afternoon in the largest agencies in large cities.
- Government offices are open Monday to Friday from 8h to 16h, while the private offices are normally open until 18 pm.
- The shops are mostly open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 19:30 and are closed on Sundays.

Language

Spanish is the official language but English is widely practiced in the various sectors of tourism. French is also quite a lot.

Shops and markets

Every self-respecting city has its own Central Market (Mercado Central). This is the place for walkabouts, to meet people and discover their daily eating habits.

You will also find in and around cities all supermarkets, shopping centers or supermarkets that might be useful: Mas X Menos (More for less) is a supermarket-type drugstore, a supermarket popular in Costa Rica. The Automercado is also a general store or drugstore concept akin to that of Mas X Menos. The Gloria is a type of department store with a number of branches including one in downtown San Jose.

Post

The country working with an address system based on the geographical orientation, mail boxes (Apartado Postal) are very commonly used. For villages, the name of the person simply followed the name of the place (locality or village) and the name of the region is generally sufficient.
The price to mail a letter for Europe, for example, should cost you € 0.70. The delivery time varies from one to two weeks.

Telephone and telecommunications

Phone

- From France to Costa Rica: 00 to 506 + number you want.
- From Costa Rica to France: 00-33 + number you want.
The network is very reliable and covers the entire country.

The numbering is now 8 digits. If you see a 7-digit number, simply add the number 2 to the case of a fixed line, 8 if it is a laptop.

Internet

Internet works fine in Costa Rica and many hotels and attractions are available to the Internet age. So you can easily communicate with them and even make reservations online.
On site, all cities and even some small towns have Internet cafes rates very low.