Tips for Handling Money in Costa Rica: Exchange Rate, US Dollars

Handling money is one of the most crucial and important things to know before you travel abroad. Nowadays credit cards are the norm and cash is the atypical but in Costa Rica, it is still useful to have some cash on hand. Here is all you need to know about handling money in Costa Rica: exchanging, USD dollars and Costa Rican colones.

The Costa Rican Colon

The Costa Rica currency is the colon (colones plural), named after Christopher Columbus. (Read more about the Costa Rican colon here). The Costa Rican currency symbol is ₡, a c with two lines across.

Costa Rica Colon to USD Exchange Rates

The exchange rate changes constantly and is not the same in every bank or financial institution since the colón is not bound to the Central Bank of Costa Rica devaluations. Since 2006, exchange rates posted by the Central Bank are used as a reference so you may see different rates everywhere you go. Exchange rates also change daily due to this reason.

Currently (August 2017), the exchange rate…