www.CostaRicaTicas.com

You will get terrible exchange rates if you try to get colones outside of CR. My bank made a huge deal out of having currency available at the airport (Toronto)... picked up some and ended up getting dinged almost 10%. Taking money out via ATM in Costa Rica costs me a $5 fee at home... plus the built in fee around 2.5% (difference between posted mid market rate and what I actually got). You may be able to do better than that with US dollars. So use US dollars after you arrive in CR until you have a chance to either withdraw colones from a machine...or get to a bank and exchange dollars for colones.

Like everyone said, ATM is your best choice, best exchange rate and more convenient. BCR is half a block from the HDR but I would google BankScotia and go there, you can take more money out and it's safer.

I don't like using stand alone ATMs for safety reasons, if something happens you don't have a specific bank to make a claim and it might take weeks for you to get an answer.

Some banks actually refund some of your charges at the end of the month so check with your bank or credit card company about it.

Some banks actually refund some of your charges at the end of the month so check with your bank or credit card company about it.