I get asked a lot about Costa Rica, but my answer has always been that it’s not all that cheap. In many respects, the whole country is on par with Mexican beach resorts and Ambergris Caye in Belize. Here’s a rundown on specifics though.

Average local lunch: $3 to $7, plus 27 percent tax and service charge
Hostel bed: $8 to $15 (but breakfast and free Internet)
Budget double room: $22 to $40
Soda in a restaurant: 75 cents to $1.50
Taxi ride across town: $2.50 to $8
Internet cafe charge: $2 to $3 per hour (and sloowwww)
Bananas: 40 for a dollar

The main reason most people come to Costa Rica is for outdoor adventure and nature activities though; it’s not like you’re just going to be sitting around a hostel and going to check out local ruins. Here’s what all that will cost you.

- Admission to many national parks is $7 to $15, but figure on $15 or so per person if you go in with a guide—-advisable since they are better at finding and spotting wildlife.
- White-water rafting trip on Naranjo or Savegre rivers: $65 to $100 including lunch.
- A zip-lining canopy adventure is a blast and most of them in Costa Rica are a series of platforms and lines, rather than just one or two. $45 to $75 per person.
- The hot springs facilities near Arenal Volcano are sprawling collections of pools of varying temperatures—and bars: $20 to $55 depending on facility and time of day.
- Half-day kayaying trip through the mangroves on the coasts: $60 to $90.
- Half-day horseback riding excursion: $45 to $70.
- Half-day boating and snorkeling trip: $60 to $75.

I’m down here on a tour with Adventure Life and like several people in my group, I’m normally an organized tour skeptic. Adventure Life invited me on this trip because I’m working on Traveler’s Took Kit: Mexico and Central America with Rob Sangster, coming out in the fall. They wanted to show me how they make this kind of trip go much more smoothly and get to more places in a short time (9 days on this one) than would be possible doing it independently.

I’m sold. The roads here are a royal pain and many of the buses aren’t all that convenient or comfortable unless you hop one of the private shuttle ones ($20 to $35 each way). Plus there’s that annoying dynamic of the group rates for hotels. Without bargaining hard, the places we’ve been staying are listed at over $100 a night. It’s doubtful the tour company paid more than half of that, based on the cost of the package. They’re all quite nice though: the quality level is high here overall.

Related posts:

1. Is Costa Rica Worth the Splurge?
2. Off the Grid in Costa Rica
3. Wet Adventure Travel in Chiapas
4. 4 Levels of Booking an Adventure Tour, from $ to $$$$
5. Travel Prices in Bangkok – Summer 2011