1. Money
Never ever exchange money at any airport. You are never getting the worth of your money. You can withdraw money from an ATM-like we did or just carry USD. Most restaurants or tourist activities will accept dollars including toll booths. Do carry smaller denominations of USD to tip, use at cafes or buy souvenirs. Remember, if you give USD you will get back Colones.
2. Cell Phone
I carried my own phone and I do have T mobile which gives international roaming with free 3G Data and texting. You can buy a sim card at the airport too. Network isn’t that great in forest areas, so wait for network until you reach bigger towns/cities.
3. Driving
Renting a car in Costa Rica is very reasonable and the US license is widely accepted. We rented a 4×4 from Dollar at the airport itself and got a pretty decent deal. I can’t stress enough how thankful we were that we rented a 4×4 since the roads of Costa Rica are extremely steep and narrow. Some parts of Monteverde are still gravel roads and there is no way a normal car can take that kind of road. Driving can be hard if you are not used to driving in the mountain area and I plead not to drive in the night. Roads are unsafe and not marked well.
4. Maps
We were heavily relying on Google maps and Waze for the most part. Network connectivity at most parts was very poor and we mapped at the beginning of every road trip when we had access to WIFI and never closed down the apps. At Monteverde, we mostly used Waze to get around as Google kept taking us to incorrect places. So please download the Waze app prior to your travel.
5. Medicine
I can’t stress enough to carry your necessary medicines and ointments prior to your travel. Buying medicines can be extremely difficult as most of the packaging is in Spanish. My friend needed to buy an Advil, which cost over $12 for a few pills only. Hence it is not only expensive to buy but also difficult to buy what you need.
6. Water
For the most part, we bought bottled water only. There are several grocery stores, including big chains like Walmart where you can buy a pack of bottles for a cheaper rate. I did carry my Brita bottle and filled normal drinking water that we got served in restaurants and hotels. I would not recommend drinking water from the taps though.
7. Towels
Most of the hotels hold a small deposit for towels. Remember guys, you are going to tropical rainforest and you will be going to waterfalls, rivers, frequent dips in the pool and generally get wet and for that, you will need a handful of towels. Deposit addtional money and get extra towels from your resort/hotel for any water activities.
8. Rain
Weather is the beauty of this country and we visited in the last week of August to the first week of September, and guess what, we got rain only for a few hours in total only on one day! The weather was throughout in the mid-70s-80s (20s Celsius) in the Arenal region, typical coastal weather in Tamarindo and chilly at night time at Monteverde. Do pack a windbreaker or an umbrella/ a rain poncho for the diverse weather over here.
9. Tours
This can be a personal choice but I would highly recommend taking either walking tours, horse riding, informative coffee/chocolate tours, sloth watching tours or general bird-watching hikes. You are going to a country rich in flora and fauna, do reap the benefit of being in the midst of the rainforest.
10. Clothes
Do pack light, carry dry-fit hiking pants/ shorts and a couple of swimwear’s and make sure to take good walking shoes, and water shoes for certain places. Tamarindo and some other coastal areas have nice bars and restaurant’s so may want to carry some nice evening clothes. Pro tip: Water shoes can be bought in local stores for less than $10 as well.
11. Bug Spray
PLEASE carry bug spray from your home country. This is an absolute necessity while hiking to waterfalls, hikes, tours and basically everywhere else.
12. Sunscreen and Sunglasses
Afternoons are very hot and humid and hence sunscreen and sunglasses will do the trick! Our time spent in Tamarindo and ATV-ing in Arenal did the maximum sun damage. Sunglasses came in handy during all our activities as the gravel and off roads can be quite dusty.
13. Language
We had no problem with language as we visited most of the bigger tourist attractions in the country but when we stopped at some countryside restaurants and street vendors, the Google translator app came in super handy. It has an amazing feature, where you can open the camera to translate any local language to English, do try it and let me know if you were as fascinated as I was to use it. Be respectively of their culture and language, learn a few Spanish courtesy words to embrace the Pura Vida life.
14. Tipping
Gratuity/Service charge is usually included in most of the restaurants and bars. I would suggest keeping a smaller denomination of USD or local currency for tipping in Hotels and smaller cafes/restaurants. I generally like to tip tour guides and hotel porters and I found that they really appreciated the gesture.
15. Shopping
Local Costa Rican chocolates are heavenly and what is even better for a caffeine addict like me, is coffee. Coffee tastes out of the world and is a must buy. There are many furniture shops carrying wood carved hangings, wooden bowls, spoons, and small household furniture if you have space to carry it back. Alot of shops carry Pura Vida stickers, clothes and general touristy stuff.
Final Word
Costa Rica is a hidden gem and the experience of being in the midst of lush greenery and nature is unbelievable. You can afford luxury for a petite price in comparison to bigger countries and enjoy a wide variety of different landscape. Let me know if you have some additional tips for Costa Rica, I would love to hear you guys out.
Happy traveling my hungry travelers!
Travelmakesmehungry 
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