www.CostaRicaTicas.com

The colon is almost at 560 to the dollar, and rising.
Living here, I use the excuse that I only deal in colones and 50 mil is actually only like $90. 30 mil is only about $54, and the standard pension rental of 20 mil is like $ 36. That's a ten percent exchange rate discount, dealing in colones.
Some of the sharper providers have figured it out; some haven't.
The best advice is to insist on paying in colones, Rent 9 get another one free

On the flip side, inevitable inflation is here in CR, I have notice that prices for everyday items at the grocery stores are rising.

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Having too much fun. 8)

As a visitor to Costa Rica have never understood this rationale. Wouldn't the girl just charge an equivalent amount in Colones or dollars? Another thing I cannot understand is people saying you should pay like either in dollars or colones for other things. I can understand for example at some of the hotels they charge in dollars so you pay in dollars so there's no conversion. But to pay something in colones is that you have to convert your dollars for which a percentage is charged. It's not like I'm flying from the United States to Costa Rica with Colones. Can someone elaborate?

1. Let your bank or whomever issued your debit card know you are going to Costa Rica.

2. Do not change dollars to colones at the bank in the US. Do not do it at the airport in the US. Do not do it at the cambio in the SJO airport in baggage claim. They take a huge fee.

3. Go to the bank ATM in San Jose. Lots of discussion about which banks, etc. on here.

4. Withdraw colones from the bank ATM. You get the same rate as if you stood in line at the bank. Small fee. Small fee.

5. Pay with colones for things like drinks, food, etc. Now you aren't getting 'conversion change' colones at CRC 500 to $1 and losing about 10% everytime you get change.

And many Ticos and Ticas have it in their head that CRC 50K = $100. Offer CRC 40K - she thinks "$80" and you are actually paying around $73. Now you can buy her that Red Bull.

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Any opinion or observation in the post above is purely presented for entertainment purposes and does not promote "sexual tourism" or "human trafficking". The laws of Costa Rica apply to all activities in Costa Rica. No warranty is expressed or implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your experience, observations or perspective may be different.

In exile in pu*sy prison

Good points MM3, eliminate the small fee mentioned in point #4 by getting an ATM card that does not charge you.

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I am NOT a Cien Boy!!

Thanks so much! Most helpful! And I believe I'm correct in this, but, for example, at the Amistad they charge a room in dollars so best to just pay them in dollars instead of converting to Colones or even using a debit card or credit card. Actually I have a Schwab debit card so there are no fees so maybe it's OK to use a Schwab debit card to pay at Amistad.

La Amistad writes their bills on colones. They post their exchange rate on the wall at reception.

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Any opinion or observation in the post above is purely presented for entertainment purposes and does not promote "sexual tourism" or "human trafficking". The laws of Costa Rica apply to all activities in Costa Rica. No warranty is expressed or implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your experience, observations or perspective may be different.

In exile in pu*sy prison

Are you sure? I was told it was cheaper to pay in dollars. That's how it is booked. Charged in dollars.

Where in Costa Rica are you (Rico1040) getting "almost 560"? The international bank rate as of closing today was/is 553. You will NOT find that rate available in Costa Rica except that some banks in the states will give you that rate when you withdraw from an ATM. NO Costa Rica bank will exchange at that rate.


As of closing this afternoon: the buy dollar rate (exchanging dollars for colones)

BCR: 549
National: 547
BAC of San Josa: 548
Cathay: 547
Scotia: 547

The highest exchange offered is Financiera G&T Continental at 552 Good luck on finding them and getting them to exchange your dollars!

There are 3 "Casa de Cambia"
Global (the one located in the airport): 479.65 (no that is not a misprint)
Latin Am. : 548
Teladolar: 547 I have never used them but there is one located on Ave 2 between C9 and c11. This is about 2 blocks from the REY.

Colonial Casino is tied to BAC's rate thus 548 but there it is usually faster and you do not have to have your passport or CR cedular.

The cajas located in some of the groceries (MasXMenos, Walmart, Pali) use the Scotiabank rate thus 547.

Most of the banks here do have a limit on the amount you can withdraw per transaction and/or per day. The only one I know for sure what it is right now is the Bank I use, Scotiabank. tTe "transaction" max is $400 or c250000 colones. The daily rate is 2 transactions for a total of $800 or c500000 (equivalent to $914). This is according to my experience from using this bank every week and from the signs posted beside the machines. I understand that the amount you can get from the BCR and BAC banks is lower, and National may be a little higher per transaction but only one per day.

Most of the banks here charge from $0 (BCR) to $3 (BAC) per transaction if you are withdrawing from a bank in the States. Many bank cards from the USA will charge you an international exchange fee also. As mentioned, Schwab does not and will also reimburse you any charges by the local bank.

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

Living here, I have never stayed there and do not know this for sure but I have been told they (Amistad) will write the bill in either dollars or colones

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

The biggest charge for exchanging money is the hidden charge... that is the rate they actually use versus the "mid market" rate - which is the rate banks base their buy and sell rates. When you withdraw cash in colones from your own bank via ATM... you generally pay around 2.5%. You can determine this by looking at the mid market rate for that day and comparing to what you received. Most Canadian banks use 2.5%... as does Visa ... that's just built into your quoted exchange rate. Then, over and above that some charge exchange fees, etc. etc. My bank charges $5 for any foreign transaction... even though they are a Canadian bank in Costa Rica (Scotiabank).

So when you compare the buy/sell rates for Costa Rica banks they are really not all that bad. Often the spread is less than 5% (or average of less than 2.5% from the mid point) and if so less than I can get directly withdrawing cash (based on US dollars only though). For Canadian dollars this is not true... my only option is to withdraw cash and take the 2.5% hit... much cheaper than using rates in Costa Rica banks...or doing the double exchange from Canadian to US dollars...then US to Costa Rica colones.

More directly to the topic... In CR I usually use one of the main CR banks machines as they do not (or did not last I was there) charge an ATM fee. Those are BCR (Bank of Costa Rica).. I think National, and Bank San Jose also. I generally get a similar rate on my Can dollar to CRC from any of these. Scotia charges an ATM fee, and my Canadian Scotia card does absolutely nothing for me as far as saving fees.

I've been looking for options for eliminating the hit on the quoted exchange rates from my home bank...but so far no luck. No Shwab option in Canada (not for the no cost exchange rate anyway).

Living here half time and having stayed at La Amistad many times and actually looking at a LA receipt right now, the bill is in colones and then converted at the rate displayed at reception based on how you pay.

For EXAMPLE (not real numbers right now), if you paid in US dollars cash, it would be at CRC 540 to $1 (EXAMPLE based on faulty memory) and credit card it would be CRC 530 to $1 (EXAMPLE based on faulty memory).

I've paid in colones, US dollars cash and credit card.

So BangBang57 is "right" in that the bill is in [url]both[/url] colones and dollars - with the conversion depending on how you pay in dollars. LA is a business in Costa Rica - like my Lodge, they pay their taxes in colones' their planea in colones, the caja (CCSS) in colones, their suppliers in colones, etc.

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Any opinion or observation in the post above is purely presented for entertainment purposes and does not promote "sexual tourism" or "human trafficking". The laws of Costa Rica apply to all activities in Costa Rica. No warranty is expressed or implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your experience, observations or perspective may be different.

In exile in pu*sy prison

These eight responses and academic discussions are great, but I still want to know how I should pay!

I Negotiate in colones with the chicas. The xchange rate in the past year has ranged from 520 to 550 roughly and i have never been asked to give them any more colones to offset the exchange rate flux. 40 mil in January gets me the same thing as it did last month. One of my favoritas understood the difference but it never came up except the last day i saw her and i had run out of colones. I paid her in cash and she appreciated it and even said 'thanks, this is more than usual since its in dollars.' I wasnt going to ask her to break down 1 of my $20 bills and hand me back change!

Hit the atm machine and save a few bucks. I was getting about $375 for 200k colones earlier this month. My mind sees it as me taking $400 for simple math, but my account was better off.

Yes the girls will ask for a few more colones for taxi and food, but thats going to happen regardless. Food and drink at the regular places (SL, HDR, etc ) pay in colones, its less math, etc.

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Entertainment purposes only, nothing posted above is true nor reflects reality nor my experience.

I started coming here over 20 years ago and have been living here for 11 years. The ONLY thing I ever pay in dollars is my rent. My lease specifies dollars-my landlady's house payment is in dollars. For some reason it seems a lot of houses are priced and sold in dollars.

I guess you can use which ever you wish, thou why?? You are NOT in the USA; the currency is NOT the dollar; in my opinion you are disrespecting the Ticos by trying to use dollars; and in most cases you are going to get ripped-off if you use dollars. Actually sometimes it is not really a rip-off. The person or business will have to take time to change the dollars to colones. Think about it this way--If you owned a business in the States and a Tico tourist tried to pay you in colones how happy would you be?

The only exception to this would be (as has been mentioned) the couple of Gringo owned hotels that price and bill their rooms in dollars. Even then I am not sure that the owners would not prefer that you pay in colones since, as mentioned above, they have to pay all or most of their expenses in colones. I have a idea that those hotels accept the dollars more as a convenience for their Gringo customers than because they want the dollars.

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

If the establishment quotes a price in dollars (usually hotels), then pay with dollars. All others, pay colones. Negotiate with the chicas in colones. Exchange dollars for colones at a bank (in CR), or use ATM's (again in CR).

A bit of information - if you pay with dollars at a place that has prices in colones, they will convert the full amount of the dollars you give them, then take out the amount you owe. Your change will be in colones. I have seen guys pay a small tab, say 8 mil colones, with a $100 bill. When they receive all the change in colones, some are upset. For some reason, they thought the merchant should have exchanged the $100 for five $20's and only convert one $20. It doesn't work like that.