Bring Local Dough!

Bring Local Dough!

Many folks have asked about bringing $100 bills to Costa Rica and with the recent asking by Megan from Pennsylvania, I feel this now deserves an article to cover the question. My answer to you is to bring colones with you, which is the local currency here in Costa Rica. If you fly American from the western half of the States, you will stop through Dallas and there is an international currency exchange place in the airport. If you fly Continental from the western half of the States, you will stop in Houston before flying to Costa Rica and there is another international currency exchange place there. From the right-hand half of the States, the entry point wherever you embark for the final leg to Costa Rica is where you will have an international currency exchange window.

Out of courtesy to the locals and to reduce your confusion, you will want to have the local currency. Few places, even banks unless you have an account with them, will want to deal with your $100 bills. The more exclusive hotels will probably be able to deal with your big bills, but you will not receive a favorable exchange rate. And outside the nicer hotels, they will be hard to break. The people of Costa Rica are very paranoid of counterfeiters, and many stores won’t take anything over a $20 bill if they accept dollars at all. It is very confusing for the locals to take foreign currency as the exchange rate is constantly in flux, and they will probably charge a premium to cover the exchange to make sure they get their just due.

If you forget or can’t find an exchange place, there is one at the airport here in Costa Rica and I wouldn’t guess the exchange rate to be favorable there either, and more importantly, you will be wanting to get to your baggage and customs, etc. If you forget altogether, we can take you to our bank here in Grecia and get the exchange thing done for you. If you use the international exchange places at the airports, they will guarantee your exchange rate back to bucks when you return. So, if you bring extra $100 bills, please know you will probably need and want to break them to colones when you get here. Current exchange rate is about 550+ colones to one dollar, so you will feel rich and your pockets will be full!

Until next post…