How safe is Costa Rica for travelers?

The ocean, first, because it is what actually kills people

• Rip currents are what drowns people here, and drowning is the risk that reaches visitors. Costa Rica records over fifty drowning deaths a year, rip currents cause four in five of them, and roughly nineteen a year are foreign tourists. Ninety per cent happen on about thirty of the country's six hundred beaches.
• Almost no beach has a lifeguard. The handful that do are in Manuel Antonio, Jaco and a couple of Guanacaste resorts.
• If you are caught in one, do not swim against it. Swim parallel to the shore until the pull stops, then come in at an angle.
• Ask locally which beaches are safe to swim. Every town knows, and the answer changes with the tide and the season.
• Playa Ventanas, Playa Hermosa and much of the Pacific south have strong permanent currents.
• Do not swim alone or at dusk, and do not swim after drinking.

Crime

• Violent crime against tourists is rare. Costa Rica sits at a moderate advisory level and the realistic risk is theft.
• Rental car break-ins are the number one crime against visitors. Nothing in the car, ever, not in the boot, not for five minutes. Thieves watch trailhead and beach car parks specifically.
• Beach theft while you swim is routine. Take one bag, one person stays with it, or take nothing worth stealing.
• San Jose's centre is fine by day and worth avoiding on foot at night, particularly around the Coca-Cola bus terminal and south of the Mercado Central.
• Limon and parts of the Caribbean coast see more crime; Puerto Viejo itself is relaxed but bag-snatching happens.
• Do not resist a robbery. Hand it over.

Scams

• Slashed tyre and the helpful stranger: your tyre is punctured while you are parked, someone stops to help while an accomplice takes the bags. If you get a flat just after leaving a car park, drive to a petrol station.
• Fake police asking to inspect your wallet or passport. Real officers do not. Offer to go to a station.
• Unlicensed tour operators for rafting, canyoning and diving. Check for ICT registration and do not book the cheapest option on the beach.
• Card skimming where the card leaves your sight. Ask for the machine.

Nature

• Do not feed the monkeys. White-faced capuchins in Manuel Antonio bite and steal, and human food kills them.
• Crocodiles are in most Pacific river mouths. The estuary at Tamarindo included. Do not swim there.
• Snakes exist and bites are rare. Wear closed shoes on trails, do not put hands where you cannot see, and go to hospital immediately if bitten.
• Riptides, rivers and waterfalls flash flood in the rainy season within minutes of rain upstream.

Roads

• Night driving outside the Central Valley is the highest-risk thing most visitors do. Unlit, unfenced, potholed, with pedestrians and no shoulder.
• Motorbike accidents are common in the beach towns and rental helmets are often terrible.
• Landslides close mountain roads in the rainy season, sometimes for days.