Travel information about Costa Rica

To travel to Costa Rica as an EU-citizen, you will need a passport that must be valid for the duration of your journey, however we recommend bringing your passport with a minimum validity of half a year. Furthermore, it is not sufficient to present a valid identity card. Conveniently, you do not need a visa permit as long as you're traveling as a tourists and are not staying in Costa Rica for more than 90 days. When entering the country, you must be able to present your valid return ticket as well as sufficient financial means.

If you want to travel to Costa Rica from the EU, you do not need any vaccinations. However, we recommend getting the standard vaccinations against diseases such as tetanus and diphtheria, and you might additionally consider getting vaccinated against hepatitis A. Please, also note that you must be vaccinated against yellow fever if you're entering Costa Rica from an area where yellow fever is common.

The Costa Rican currency is called Costa-Rica-Colón and it's exchange rate is about 1 Euro = 660 Costa-Rica-Colón. You can exchange your money easily in banks or exchange offices right at your destination, as experience has shown that it is cheaper to change money locally than in your home country. If you do so however, you should be aware that additional fees in addition to any exchange fees may arise if you do not bring the money in cash but pick it up locally with your card.

During winter, there is a time difference between Costa Rica and Germany of -9 hours, during summer -8 hours.

Costa Rica's official language is Spanish.

Due to its location between the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean, Costa Rica enjoys a tropical climate. During the dry season, which lasts from December to April, it is mostly dry and warm. In this season, the temperatures range between 25 to 30 °C, and it can even get hotter on the coasts. During the rainy season, which stretches from May to November, colder temperatures and more rain as well as a generally higher humidity await you. Therefore, the best traveling time for Costa Rica is between December and April.

Costa Rica has got three international airports which you can fly to from the EU, namely the international airport Juan Santamaria, the Tobías Bolaños international airport and the Daniel Oduber Quiros international airport. For all participants of our tours, we can also arrange transfers from the airport to the hotel. When you're leaving Costa Rica, you must pay a leaving tax of about 7,00 USD, which mostly is already included in your flight ticket. When you're leaving Costa Rica by land however, you must pay the tax yourself, either in USD or CRC.

To grant you maximum flexibility in the process of planning your tour, we did not set any fixed dates for our enduro tours. Simply fill out our contact form or shoot us an e-mail telling us how many riders you will be travelling with, what level you are riding at und when you would like to travel and we will be more than happy to send you an individual offer after checking our current availabilities! If you would like to book further ammenities such as a couple of extra days to go swimming or to explore the country on your own, just let us know - the more information we receive, the better and quicker we can organize your next motorbike tour for you and the earlier you can lay back and relax, looking forward to travelling to Costa Rica!

After your booking, you can pay for your tour via bank transfer, the information that you need to do so will be mentioned on your invoice. An initial deposit payment amounting to 20% of the total tour price must be paid immediately after receiving the invoice, the rest of the payment is due 30 days before your scheduled departure. Exceptions can be made if flight bookings have to be paid in total in advance, which depends on the chosen flight and airline.

Just because you are new to riding motorbikes, it doesn't mean that you cannot book one of our motorbike tours! Simply let us know your level of riding and we will do our best to match you with other riders that are on the same page as you are so that you do not have to worry about the trails being too tough (or too easy, for that matter)! After all, Costa Rica has got many enduro trails for beginners, intermediate riders and experts which we would love to show you!

To be able to join our enduro tours by riding your motorbike through Costa Rica, you must be at least 21 years old. Furthermore, you need a valid international motorcycle license.

If you'd like to join our tour as a non-rider however, there is no minimium age, as long as children and teenagers under the age of 18 are accompanied by a legal representative.

Yes, on all of our enduro tours, the rent of an enduro is already included in the price! Usually, we use recent 250 - 450 cc KTM and Husqvarna models.

Unfortunately, right now it is not possible to rent an enduro motorbike from us without booking a tour.

If you would like to, of course you can also ride the tour on your own motorbike. To do so, your enduro or travel enduro motorbike should be legally registered, in a generally good state and equipped with proper enduro tires. If you are not sure whether or not your bike is suitable to ride the tour, write us an e-mail, call us or text us on WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram and we will be happy to assist you!

If a part of your motorbike breaks during our tour, our guide will try to fix it for you. Should this not be possible on our way, we will try to provide you with a replacement enduro so that you can continue your tour as if nothing had happened.

For your own safety, we require you to wear a helmet, knee and elbow pads, a chest guard, gloves, a motorcycle jacket or jersey, goggles and durable motorcycle boots while riding. Unfortunately, as of right now, you cannot rent the protectional gear from us but have to bring your own.

Besides of the safety gear mentioned above, we recommend bringing the following items to your motorbike tour:

• A hydration pack or a normal, small backpack (incl. a rain cover)
• A rain coat that can also be worn while riding your motorbike
• Leisure clothing: t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, jeans, comfortable shoes, swimwear, underwear, socks
• Towels, cosmetic products and personal hygiene products
• Personal medicine as well as a first-aid kit
• Sunscreen and sunglasses
• Passport, visa (if needed), driver's license, your wallet

Costa Rica is a beautiful country that surely has a lot more to offer than we can cover in just a couple of days of riding. Thus, we would be more than happy to assist you in booking some additional nights, whether you would just like to spend some more days at the beach or you would like to enjoy some more action with one of our guides!

During our tour, we will stay in good local hotels that we have only had positive experiences with so far.

We also advice you, as for any trip, to conclude a travel health insurance before your trip. If you need to bring medicine that is only available on prescription, you must also bring a medical certificate in English or Spanish.

Riding motorbikes is an outdoor sport, which is why the weather is always a risk factor. Should the weather be bad, our guides will determine whether they think that we can ride the tour anyways or not and if any changes to the routing must be made so that you can enjoy a safe adventure. Should our guides decide that going for a ride is too dangerous given the current situation, we will cover the kilometers in our support vehicle and try to adhere to the rest of the program as good as possible.

You can find all information regarding the cancellation of your booking in our terms and conditions.

Now, that you have got a general overview of what to expect on your trip to Costa Rica, you can take a look at the website of the government of the UK on travel advice for Costa Rica to get even more information. We at Viaduro care for your safety, and therefore we would like to provide you with some information that enables you to travel safely. However, we can always only assume which information is important to the average traveler, so you might as well look for more information regarding your specific needs elsewhere (for example but not exclusively on the site of the German ministry of foreign affairs). Although we are regularly updating this information, it might also happen that not everything is up to date as frequent changes can always take place, thus, all information provided is not legally binding. 

One last advice, please always make sure to listen to our guides! We can guarantee you that the only thing they want you to do - except having fun of course - is to be safe, and they are the ones that know this country best and that have the best overview of the ongoing situation. With that being said, you are now ready to read through the actual travel information. Enjoy your trip!

- Last update: 18.11.20 -