Go with a plan.
Numbeo's Safety Index puts San Jose at 44/100 for crime — that makes it read sketchier than Costa Rica's national picture overall (62/100 vs 66/100).
City page · part of Costa Rica
The one number a country page can't give you
What people who actually live in San Jose report
Numbeo aggregates thousands of resident-submitted perception surveys into a per-city Crime Index (higher = worse) and its inverse, a Safety Index — the only real city-granularity crime signal feeding this page, alongside Costa Rica's national advisory, political, health, and police-trust data.
Crime Index
55.9
Safety Index
44.1
Sub-scores
Same real inputs as Costa Rica's national page, with crime swapped for San Jose's own Numbeo number above.
Legal status (national law)
Legal since 1971+ UN decl. sign.
Source: Wikipedia — LGBTQ rights by country →Pack this, know this
The little things that trip people up
Plug & voltage
A / B · 120V
Driving side
right
Emergency
police: 911 / ambulance: 911 / fire: 911
Tipping
Tipping is not customary in Costa Rica. Some higher-end establishments add an additional 10% service charge to the bill at the end, but otherwise, you are not expected to pay anything on top of the amount stated on the bill.
SIM / Data
SIM cards and frequencies: Bring an unlocked quad or multi band cell phone that works on the proper frequencies and get a SIM card, which can be bought on almost any corner. Costaricans refer to mobile phones as celulares (cell phones).
Cash vs. Card
The local currency is the Costa Rican colón (plural: colones) CRC named after Christopher Columbus (whose name was Cristobal Colón in Spanish) sometimes shown locally as ₡ and sometimes shown using the more commonly available U.S. cent symbol '¢' or ₵. Banknotes come in denominations of ₡1,000-, ₡2,000-, ₡5,000-, ₡10,000-, ₡20,000 and ₡50,000. Coins come in denominations of ₡10-, ₡25-, ₡50-, ₡100
How this compares to Costa Rica
Numbeo's Safety Index puts San Jose at 44/100 for crime — that makes it read sketchier than Costa Rica's national picture overall (62/100 vs 66/100).
See the full Costa Rica page and all receipts →