Costa Rica

Having, using, or selling illegal drugs is a crime, and hallucinogens like ayahuasca and kambo offered in spiritual ceremonies are unregulated by Costa Rica's health ministry.

Heavy fines and jail; travelers have been assaulted, injured, or robbed while under the influence in ceremonies.

Verified Jul 13, 2026

Cannabis is not legal in Costa Rica, but possessing a personal amount is not a criminal offence. The drug law (Ley 7786, as reformed by Ley 8204) punishes possession in article 58 only when the drug is held for selling, supplying, transporting, storing or producing it, and Costa Rican law contains no offence of simple possession or of use. Consuming in public carries no penalty — the law offers free, voluntary treatment instead. But no quantity is published anywhere, so if you are stopped it is the authorities who decide afterwards whether you were a user or a trafficker, and trafficking carries 8 to 15 years.

No penalty exists for personal use, or for consuming in a public place — the law offers voluntary, free treatment instead (Ley 7786 art. 79). The drug can still be seized. Possession for selling, supplying, transporting, storing or producing: 8 to 15 years' imprisonment (art. 58). Cultivation is written as 6 to 12 years (General Health Law art. 371). No published quantity separates the two, so the line is drawn after you are stopped.

Verified Oct 1, 2026

You may bring up to ONE MONTH'S SUPPLY of a prescribed controlled medicine - stimulants, opioids, benzodiazepines - with no permit and no prior authorisation. Above one month you must obtain Ministry of Health authorisation, applied for at least one month before you travel, with your prescription, a medical report no more than three months old, and the purchase invoice, all TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH. Schedule IV narcotics under the 1961 Convention and fentanyl in ampoules are barred outright, even if legal where you live.

Article 57 states NO penalty. The documented consequence runs through customs instead: controlled medicines are restricted-import goods, which art. 369 f) of Decreto 44051-H requires be declared, and art. 374 b) provides for seizure of undeclared merchandise that is detected. No fine or criminal exposure for a traveller is stated in the health decree, and none should be asserted - Ley 8204's offences bind "personas legalmente autorizadas" and commercial actors, not tourists.

Verified Aug 29, 2026

If you bring hunting or sport guns into Costa Rica you MUST declare them to customs on arrival - officers record the serial numbers in your passport and notify the arms department. You may bring up to four sport or hunting guns plus 500 rounds as duty-free baggage if you can prove you are a tourist, and you must show the guns again when you leave. Nothing here covers self-defence weapons, and an undeclared, unregistered firearm carries three to five years in prison.

Ley 7530 art. 88: three to five years' imprisonment for possessing an unregistered permitted firearm. Art. 88 bis: two to four years for carrying a registered permitted firearm without the required permit, increased by one third if the weapon is unregistered; if the permit merely expired, the penalty is instead a fine of one salario base (₡462,200), doubled on repeat within six months.

Verified Aug 30, 2026

The currency limit for entry and exit is US$10,000; amounts at or above this must be declared.

Undeclared currency over the limit can be seized.

Verified Jul 13, 2026

Goods you bring that are NOT personal baggage - gifts, duty-free purchases, a new device for someone else - enter tax-free only up to 500 Central American pesos (treated as roughly US$500) of customs value. You qualify only if you have been outside Costa Rica for at least 72 hours AND have not used this benefit in the previous six months; both are proved with your passport. Every arriving traveller must file a customs declaration covering anything beyond their baggage.

Exceeding the threshold is a TAX consequence, not a fine: Decreto 44051-H art. 366 has the officer open a declaration de oficio - "En caso de que el valor de las mercancias exceda el monto establecido en el citado articulo, el funcionario aduanero procedera a efectuar de oficio la declaracion de mercancias, para el pago de los tributos que resulten" - so duties are paid on the excess. Notably the old fixed 100-peso fine on a traveller who failed to declare NO LONGER EXISTS: Ley 7557 art. 235 now reads "Articulo 235.-Multa de cien pesos centroamericanos. (Derogado por el articulo 3 de la ley N 10271 del 22 de junio del 2022)" - this repeal is still widely missed online. What remains is seizure of undeclared goods (art. 374 b), and, only where fiscal harm exceeds 1,000 Central American pesos, the general customs infraction of Ley 7557 art. 242, a fine of twice the duties evaded.

Verified Aug 29, 2026

Driving while drunk or on drugs is illegal in Costa Rica.

Heavy fines and jail time.

Verified Jul 13, 2026

Reports of tainted or unregulated alcohol have caused serious illness and deaths in Costa Rica; if you feel sick after drinking, call 911 and report suspect alcohol to the Investigative Police (OIJ).

Health hazard — methanol poisoning can be fatal; report tainted or unregulated alcohol to the OIJ at 800-8000-645.

Verified Jul 13, 2026

You can bring and use a vape in Costa Rica, but not in most places you would want to. Vaping is banned in bars, restaurants, HOTELS, casinos, nightclubs, shopping centres, workplace car parks and ALL areas of ports and airports. The vaping list is wider than the smoking ban - it explicitly names hotels, which the tobacco law does not. An individual caught vaping in a prohibited place is fined 10% of a judicial base salary: about 46,220 colones in 2026, roughly US$90.

Ley 10066 art. 15 a): "multa del diez por ciento (10%) de un salario base, a las personas fisicas que utilicen" the devices in the art. 3 prohibited places. With the base salary set at 462,200 colones for 2026, that is 46,220 colones (about US$90 at prevailing rates). This is identical to the smoker's fine under Ley 9028 art. 36 a). DO NOT APPLY THE HIGHER TIERS TO A TOURIST: the 15% fine falls on those responsible for posting signage, and the 50% fine on managers who PERMIT use and on anyone selling to a minor. Business closure under Ley 9028 art. 36 applies to premises, never to an individual. The USD conversion moves with the exchange rate; the colon figure is the authoritative one.

Verified Aug 29, 2026

Each adult traveller may bring in 500 grams of manufactured tobacco duty-free as part of their baggage, alongside 5 litres of wine or spirits. The law measures tobacco BY WEIGHT, not by pack or carton count - check the weight printed on your product, not the number of cigarettes. Going over is not an offence: a customs officer opens a declaration on the spot and you pay import tax on the excess.

No fine is stated for exceeding the tobacco quantity - the consequence is tax, not a penalty. Customs declarations for goods a traveller brings beyond their baggage are processed DE OFICIO (art. 272 a) of Decreto 44051-H: "Importacion de mercancias distintas del equipaje, realizada por viajeros"), so duties are simply assessed and paid. A DIFFERENT trigger - concealing goods rather than exceeding a limit - does carry a consequence: art. 374 b) provides "Si detectare mercancias no declaradas se procedera a su decomiso y se seguira el procedimiento correspondiente." Note precisely: art. 366 is headed "Clases de equipaje" and its ex officio mechanism is triggered by a VALUE threshold on non-baggage goods, not by this 500 g quantity - do not cite it as the excess-tobacco rule.

Verified Aug 29, 2026

To drive you must carry a valid passport plus a U.S. driver's license or an international driving permit.

Fines for routine traffic violations can exceed US$500; don't move your vehicle after an accident until police and an insurance investigator file reports.

Verified Jul 13, 2026

Fly your drone only in uncontrolled airspace away from built-up areas and outdoor crowds, keep it within your line of sight, no more than 500 m from you and no higher than 120 m (400 ft). Every drone under 25 kg must carry a permanently fixed, plainly legible ID plate showing its serial number plus the owner's or operator's name and phone number. Costa Rica's data-protection and privacy law still applies to any aerial images you capture.

The RAC-RPAS itself contains no fine - the words "sanción", "multa" and "infracción" do not appear in the decree. What it does provide: for holders of a certificado de explotación / Certificado Operativo, a complaint about capturing or publishing images without consent triggers a DGAC technical investigation and a recommendation to CETAC to open proceedings to cancel the operating certificate under art. 13 ff. of the Ley General de Aviación Civil, and the complainant may separately pursue court action.

Verified Aug 30, 2026

Never bring a signal jammer into Costa Rica. Making, buying, installing, CARRYING, IMPORTING, transporting, distributing, selling, using or operating any device that interferes with, disables, blocks, degrades or disrupts radio communication signals is a crime carrying one to six years in prison - importing or simply carrying one is enough. The only carve-out is authorised blocking inside prisons and similar facilities.

One to six years' imprisonment (Código Penal art. 259 bis, added by Ley 10415 of 29 November 2023). If committed by a public servant, the penalty is increased by one third.

Verified Aug 30, 2026

Costa Rica no longer bars same-sex marriage - the Family Code clause that made it "legally impossible" was struck down and now appears only as annulled. But no general law stops private businesses such as hotels or tour operators from discriminating against you over sexual orientation: the government's anti-discrimination decree binds only the Presidency and the government ministries.

Verified Aug 30, 2026

Do not drink alcohol on the street in Costa Rica. Being caught drinking on a public road - or in any public place your municipality has designated - is a fine of half a salario base, currently about ₡231,100, and the police, municipal police or municipal inspectors must confiscate the drink and file a report. Which additional public places are covered is set municipality by municipality, so it varies by town.

A fine of half a salario base, plus mandatory confiscation of the drink and a written report (Ley 9047 art. 20). Costa Rica's salario base is ₡462,200, so half is ₡231,100. Separately, SELLING alcohol on public roads and in public places is punished with ten to thirty días multa (art. 19), and selling without a municipal licence with thirty to sixty días multa (art. 21).

Verified Aug 30, 2026