Crossing Latin American international borders is rarely easy or pleasant (why do they always smell like pee and desperation?). Things are even more complicated when you’re driving across in your own vehicle as part of an overland road trip. We hope these border crossing tips help you travel across the Peñas Blancas border from Nicaragua into Costa Rica smoothly with or without a vehicle. From: ...

Due to the popularity and success of its Costa Rica program, Sunwing is pleased to announce the launch of new flights to San Jose (SJO), in addition to its current flights to Liberia (LIR). Flights from Toronto will depart weekly on Fridays from December 21, 2012 to April 12, 2013. Sunwing will also be offering vacation packages, which include an excellent selection of hotels in some of Cos...

Ladies, let's talk about shoes. Fellas don't leave me just yet this concerns you as well, plus I promise no Blahnik or Louboutin talk (ladies are you impressed I know them?). Mostly I'm concerned about you. You flew many miles and spent tons of money to come visit us in Costa Rica. You're probably packing cameras, iPhones or iPads worth hundreds or thousands of dollars so you can capture ...

From the crest of a wave or deep below the water’s surface, among the coral: whichever way you look at it, there can be no denying that Central America is one of the world’s hottest spots for adventure travel. With plenty of things to see and do, it is quickly becoming a hub for many international travelers, leading to easy access to all types of amenities, a variety of airports and sea ports ...

WestJet announced today it will add four new sun destinations and extend two more from seasonal to year-round as part of its 2012-2013 winter schedule. The new Caribbean destinations are Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao and Costa Rica, all from Toronto Pearson International Airport. The airline's newest Mexican destination is Manzanillo, via Calgary International Airport. Details of WestJet's n...

Vehicles crossing Paso Canoas in 2009 President Laura Chinchilla met with her Panamanian counterpart Ricardo Martinelli at the Sixaola southern border days ago to inaugurate a new bridge that will connect both Central American nations. The initial border crossing will be a provisional Bailey bridge, and it is expected to remain in place until both nations obtain $30 million in funding for the pe...

Do pay for the GPS option. You'll learn to love that heartless voice. And if you're thinking you'll turn it off. Don't. You'll want to keep your eyes on the road. When you come from any developed country driving in Costa Rica may be the most maddening, if not downright terrifying thing you can undertake. I read an article recently that suggested that Costa Rica would have to invest $2 billion ...

Few things are as elemental to travel as guidebooks. Whether for a weekend in Washington or three months of exploring Australia, Fodor's, Frommer's, Lonely Planet and Moon tell us what to see and where to eat. But they're also an albatross. Consider that trip to Australia: Do you really need to drag 1,100 pages with every step? All that weight and bulk become a nuisance, especially when your wo...

SPECIFICALLY, a study by the CREST Center for Responsible Travel released in 2011 reports that 62% of travelers claim traveling responsible is “important” to them, and over 80% state they want their hotel to be socially and environmentally responsible. But 73% of those polled did nothing to verify their hotel’s environmental practices, and 81% didn’t try to verify their hotel’s social practices...

I’d never traveled with a celebrity before. When we arrived at the airport in Costa Rica, it was a madhouse. People kept coming up to take pictures with my companion. Customs officials rushed us through the line after a cursory check of our documents. Baggage handlers competed to grab our luggage. It got to be a bit much when a police officer stalked over determinedly as we waited outside fo...

Source: MOPT The sizable sinkhole that formed on the General Canas highway has dominated news headlines and caused much consternation for many people in Costa Rica. The affected highway is the most heavily transited in Costa Rica as it connects the populous cities of San Jose and Alajuela, not to mention the busy Juan Santamaria International Airport, travelers heading to the beaches in the Cent...

How hard would it be to load up a vehicle somewhere north of Mexico, cross the southern border of the United States, merge onto the Mexican Federal Highways network, cross over into CA-1 (Central American Highway 1), and arrive in Costa Rica? For two adventurous Canadians, it was a matter of selling their townhouse in Vancouver, British Columbia in early December of 2011, cross over to the Unit...

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Costa Rica for the first time. The love of travel in my bones, as soon as I was asked about the opportunity to come to photograph the wedding of a longtime friend—I jumped into researching Costa Rica on the internet and learning all I could about the country and region, even before boarding the plane from Chicago to Atlanta, Atlanta to San Jos...

UPDATED January 2017 In the past, the vast majority of tourists and persons seeking to retire in Costa Rica were much older than they are now. Back then, there was only the famous pensionado plan (now defunct) designed to attract retirees from the States. The requirements were minimal and had many benefits, including free car import provisions and even a special license plate for pensionados. ...

In the last article, we discussed Android apps that help you plan your trip in Costa Rica. In this article, we look at apps for planning flights, hotels, and rental cars. These apps are great tools for any traveler, whether visiting Costa Rica, or traveling to another country from Costa Rica. For the frequent traveler, they make life a lot easier. You no longer need to hunt for the emails from the...

Centuries before the Wright brothers made their seminal engine-powered flight, humans were clearly obsessed with flight. From the Daedalus and Icarus tales of Greek mythology to Leonardo Da Vinci's ingenious sketches of flying machines, humanity has been set on defying gravity and soaring through the air in search of that ultimate freedom bestowed upon the bird species by Nature. Flying and to...

A couple of dear readers have sent us questions related to environmental issues in Costa Rica. Our country has considerably stepped up conservation efforts since the mid-1970s, and there is a commitment in place to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2021. Conservation and carbon neutrality are two issues that go hand-in-hand to ensure that our country remains pretty and pristine, and thus The C...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. A few dear readers recently sent questions regarding a number of immigration affairs that visitors to our country regularly experience.  We have consolidated the relevant questions and answered them in this article for a more convenient rea...

Click here to view past "readers mail" questions that we have answered in published articles. A couple of dear readers recently sent us questions regarding air travel in Costa Rica. We have consolidated their questions and respective answers to make it more informative for everyone. A reader named Bill from Chicago asked general questions about our airports and airlines, whether it's possib...

While most industries in Costa Rica come to a virtual halt during the holidays, Christmas is the busiest time of the year for inter-province bus operators. According to a report published on daily newspaper La Prensa Libre and broadcast by its sister Radio America AM station, bus lines are stepping up their operational pace in an effort to meet the demands of hundreds of thousands of holiday trave...