When thinking of Costa Rica you might not directly think about hitchhiking, but like in any other place, why not try it out?
How does hitchhiking in Costa Rica work
To be honest, I was not doing as much hitchhiking in Costa Rica, but on two occasions it happened. One time after crossing the border from Panama on my way to the Caribbean Sea. The other time when I messed up my attempt to go to Nicaragua and had to go back to the capital San Jose.
Hitchhiking in Costa Rica felt differently than in other places in Central America. The people were not stopping quickly and had not the biggest feeling for hitchhiking in general. Mainly people stopped who were interested in gaining money from it, obviously that is not what hitchhiking is about.
At the end I was almost getting in a fight with one guy, even though I told him in Spanish, that it was hitchhiking and that I was not having money with me. The anger overcame him at the end and the situation wasn’t that fun at the end.
Due to the high amount of international tourists, locals are earning money with them, I don’t want to say hitchhiking is not possible, but it is not self-explained as in other places.
What is important to know about hitchhiking in Costa Rica?
Generally speaking, I would do it outside of the cities, due to the high crime rate inside of them. Another thing which is important when standing on the side of the road, watch a bit out.
People are not really expecting you to be hitchhiking, so it is better to not directly stand on the road, it is better to stand a bit next to it. Also watch out for animals in general. Usually you should be safe with animals, but still you never know what to expect. There can be dangerous animals crossing your path.
Especially don’t do hitchhiking during the night in Costa Rica, of course it could work out well, but honestly the chances are way higher during the night, that something not so nice could happen.
My hitchhiking experience in Costa Rica
Besides the bad experience I had during my time in the country, I also had one decent experience. Being stuck on the highway, after I realized I had made a mistake. I brought my drone with me to the bus to Nicaragua, it would have been taken by the border patrol.
I had to exit the bus and was stuck somewhere between San Jose and Nicaragua.
Only chance was to hitchhike or wait for some minibus, which would go to the capital. The big buses were not willing to stop.
It took quite some time until someone was stopping. It wasn’t a local, some guy from the USA. He was friendly, but very conservative. He was driving in a rental car which was a huge jeep. It was interesting driving with him and learning about life in Texas, even though he was friendly toward me, I felt a bit uncomfortable. He was driving me directly to my host in San Jose where I stayed the night to make it the day after to Nicaragua.
Summary
Hitchhiking in Costa Rica is for sure possible, you just need to hope for nice people who don’t want money from you. While Spanish isn’t super important in the touristic places of the country, it can be important to understand some Spanish, in order to communicate with the local drivers and prove your point.
You can be lucky by finding a ride, but it can take a while.
Try it out and let me know about how it went.
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