Every year hundreds of thousands of vacationers from Canada, Europe, the States, and elsewhere travel to the tropical Latin America country of Costa Rica. It is a very popular destination for different reasons for different people. Some love the great beaches and warm, blue waters. Others are enraptured by the lush tropical mountains and great weather. There are an extraordinary number of things to do and see during the days and, of course, many, many travel for its adult nightlife (what happens here, stays here) as well.

You do not have to spend a arm and leg to experience Costa Rica so long as you bring a little creativity. There are some travel bargains which are not commonly known to tourists.

Adventurers and explorers have marveled about this country for centuries. Christopher Columbus was the first to discover it, doing so in 1503. He was so enraptured he gave it its name, Costa Rica–the rich coast. About seven decades later, an English captain and seafarer named Sir Francis Drake rounded the southernmost point of South America and traveled north until he landed at what is now called Drake Bay off the southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. You may have heard of this fellow: he is famous for destroying the Spanish Armada and saving England in 1588.

However, unlike these discoverers, you won’t need a boatload of people to help you get around and it will not cost you the Crown treasure, either.

One way to experience Costa Rica on a budget is by taking a ferry boat ride. For about $1.50 (this is not a misprint), you can have a nice hour and a half cruise along the tropical waters off the central Pacific coast of Costa Rica between the port city of Puntarenas and the southern tip of the lovely Nicoya Peninsula. Where else can you take an ocean cruise for the price of a bottle of water? Most vacationers never take this ride because they’ve never heard about it. But now you have.

Trains are always fun, too, even if you’re on a budget. The Tico Train will take you from San Jose to Puntarenas for about $16.00 each way. It is a four hour trip through mountains and over rivers on tall bridges on an old train filled with laughing and singing Costa Rican families. And, in Costa Rica Pura Vida style, it ends at the beach! Yep. Few tourists know about the train but locals do so you’ll need train reservations. Call American Travel at telephone number 22-33-33-00 when you are ready to go. Bring your camera and bathing suit!

Your Costa Rica visit will provide you two coasts to choose from and nearly 800 miles of sunny beaches can be explored, surfed, hiked, swum (but be careful about rip tides at some places), and even fished for free. Every beach in this country is public and open to everybody. And you can get anywhere really cheaply. Public and private buses are everywhere in Costa Rica. For example, suppose, like lots of other tourists you want to visit the lovely Pacific town of Jaco. From the price of a Happy Meal, you can take a large, comfortable, air-conditioned bus ride from San Jose to Jaco. Yep. Less than $5 will get you there.

Finally, I have one more budgetary secret to share. There are very nice Costa Rica hostels throughout the country. Sure, most folks associate hostels with college kids crammed into a dorm but the truth is that many of the hostels in Costa Rica offer private rooms for just a little more per person than a dorm. You don’t need to spend $50-70+ per person to have a nice room. I recommend them because I’ve stayed in private, quiet rooms at hostels for way less than the cost of hotels.

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