More reading from CRIE about Costa Rica and life abroad. For a focused starting point, explore our residency requirements and essential guides.
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Costa Rica is the only country in the Americas with an official state religion. Here is what Article 75 actually says, how the country is really divided, and how to find an English-language congregation.
The North American town pool barely exists here. What Costa Rica has instead is the balneario — spring-fed complexes where the water runs straight through rather than being recirculated.
Costa Rica’s art scene is almost entirely state-run, and its three great museums share a peculiarity — the buildings were all something else first.
Costa Rica has sixty public libraries plus the National Library, run centrally by the Ministry of Culture rather than by town councils — and they are spread far more unevenly than you would guess.
Salsa is Cuban and bachata is Dominican. The dance that is actually Costa Rican is swing criollo — born in the banana zone, shunned for decades, and national heritage since 2012.
Rainbow eucalyptus grows very well in Costa Rica, but every one was planted. Here is how it arrived, why the bark is coloured, and the argument about whether it should be here at all.
Costa Rica has 1,684 orchid species, a dry-forest tree whose whole population flowers nine days after a cold snap, and a white flower that Costa Ricans scramble with egg at Easter. Here is the real list.
Home education has no legal recognition in Costa Rica. The law requires enrolment in a teaching centre, and there is no ministry pathway for a child aged six to thirteen educated at home.
The bars are not a measure of danger. Residential burglary has fallen 34% since 2019 — the grilles exist so the windows can stay open all year.
Sunset in Costa Rica falls between about 5.11pm and 6.02pm every day of the year. Day length varies by only 69 minutes, and the clocks have not changed since 1992.
