There are plenty of opportunities to get your shopping fix in Costa Rica. Modern malls, classic boutique stores, local street vendors and little shops tucked in and around the villages across the country are all waiting for your shopping dollars.  A few quick tips, comfortable shoes and a pocket full of money will get you ready for a fantastic shopping experience in Costa Rica. Outside of the larger cities, your shopping playground consists of boutique, specialty, souvenir and local variety shops. Don't be fooled when passing through a village that appears to have little or no shops off the main road. The terrain and land ownership often force these smaller shops to be off the beaten path.

Gratuities are a normal and expected part of the income for anyone employed in the service sector of the tourism industry.  The service tax of 10% still gets added to restaurant bills but it's sort of the minimum wage part of the wait staff's pay.  Envelopes for housekeeping gratuities have appeared on nightstands at many hotels and we've even seen tip jars on the counter of ice cream shops. Tipping is never mandatory (except for the 10% already included in your restaurant tab) but if your guide, instructor, driver or service staff made your stay particularily enjoyable consider giving them a gratuity.

Costa Rica’s public bus system is excellent, cheap and quite frequent, even in remote areas. Taxis regularly do long- as well as short-distance trips and are a fairly inexpensive alternative to the bus, at least if you’re travelling in a group. Car rental is more common here than in the rest of Central America, but is fairly expensive and driving can be quite a hair-raising experience, with precipitous drops in the highlands and potholed roads just about everywhere else.Domestic airlines are reasonably economical and can be quite a time-saver, especially since Costa Rica’s difficult terrain makes driving distances longer than they appear on the map. A number of tour operators in San José organize individual itineraries and packages with transport included, well worth checking out before making any decisions about heading out on your own.