Getting a prepaid SIM card in Costa Rica is very easy and not that expensive. We recommend getting a Costa Rica SIM card so you can have a local phone number and data which is very useful in case of emergencies.
In this article you will learn all about getting prepaid SIM cards in Costa Rica.
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Where Can I Get a prepaid SIM Card in Costa Rica?
You can buy a prepaid SIM card at any phone store, supermarket or computer store in Costa Rica.
At the San Jose International Airport, there is a Claro (name of the phone company) stand left of baggage claim 5 where you can purchase a SIM card.
It is open from 6 AM to 9 PM and sometimes to 11 PM on weekends. They’ll help you insert the SIM card and set up your phone to use it.
Claro offers a couple plans. 15 days for $60 USD and $30 USD for 7 days. They have a vending machine that you can just buy the card from and then you can ask the agent for assistance to insert it into your phone.
In the Country
You can go to any of the phone companies’ offices in Costa Rica. Additionally, you can get a prepaid SIM card at most cell phone or computer stores in Costa Rica.
Some supermarkets sell prepaid SIM cards that come with a prepaid plan (already have a set amount of credit on them).
Which SIM card to get in Costa Rica?
For tourists going to popular tourist destinations in Costa Rica, we recommend to get a Kolbi SIM card. Kolbi is the government cell phone network company and has the widest coverage in Costa Rica. You can buy prepaid SIM cards at any of their branches.
There are Kolbi offices throughout the country and close to the airports. Search for the closest one to you in Google Maps or Waze. Just look for the office with a big green frog on it that says Kolbi.
Do keep in mind that most offices close from 5-7 PM. If you fly into Guanacaste Airport, there is a Kolbi office in Liberia 15 minutes away by car where you can get a SIM card.
Car Rentals and SIM Cards
Our partnership with Adobe Rent a Car includes a free Costa Rican SIM card with 1000 CRC preloaded that you can put in your unlocked phone for the duration of your car rental booking.
This way, you can have a Costa Rica number in case of emergencies and you can recharge it if you need to. 1000 CRC gives you about 30 minutes of local minutes.
Requirement to get a SIM card in Costa Rica
To buy your own prepaid SIM card in Costa Rica, you must have your original passport or photo ID (passport works best) and cash.
You have to fill out a short form and present your photo ID to purchase a prepaid SIM card in Costa Rica which costs around 2000 colones or (~$3.50 USD).
It is also best to pay in Costa Rican colones, not USD or credit card. When you purchase your SIM card, you can then load as much credit on there as you want.
Additionally, your smartphone must be quad band, it must use a physical SIM card and it has to be unlocked.
The type of phone doesn’t matter. It can be an iPhone or Android, Samsung, HTC, Blackberry, whichever, as long as it fits those three requirements.
Make sure you call your home provider to see if your phone it unlocked and can accept international SIM cards before you leave.
Once you purchase a SIM card in Costa Rica, you can’t return it if you find out your phone is still locked.
Prepaid SIM cards typically expire after 90 days of no use.
Costa Rica Cell Phone Companies
The 3 major phone companies in Costa Rica are: Kolbi, Liberty and Claro. With these companies you can buy the SIM card for 1-2000 colones (around $2-4 USD) and they will give you the same amount for phone credit on the SIM card itself.
Some prepaid SIM cards already have a plan and credit loaded. You will see signs like this at the supermarket for them:
This is an option if you’re not sure how much credit you want to put. However, most people like to do the pay as you go and then recharge when needed.
Our Recommendations for Costa Rica Prepaid SIM Cards
Kolbi is best for nationwide use, especially if you plan to stay in the city and main destinations. However, Claro also has good coverage nationwide, but more for rural areas.
For example, Kolbi does not have as good coverage down in the Osa Peninsula. Instead, Claro worked well there.
When we visited Pavones, Kolbi had 0 service but Claro had 3g. In Guanacaste, Liberty tends to have a teeny bit more coverage than Kolbi.
Using T-Mobile in Costa Rica
Samantha used to use her US phone with T-Mobile in Costa Rica. T-Mobile offers plans with free international data and calling/text included.
No set up required so you don’t need to switch your SIM card or take it out. Just keep your T-Mobile SIM card in your phone.
On their Go5g plan, they don’t charge roaming fees and offer high speed data abroad in over 200 countries, including Costa Rica. Depending on which Go5g plan you have, it’ll be either 5gb of high speed data or 256 kbps on the basic plan.
If you plan to use your T-Mobile plan in Costa Rica, when you land in Costa Rica, take your phone off airplane mode and turn on data, T-Mobile will send you a text message.
It’ll say something like “Welcome to Costa Rica!” and then detail what exactly is included in your plan (how fast your internet is, costs of calls, etc.) They will also include a link in case you want their International Pass for $5 USD a day.
TMobile Plans
The T-Mobile Go5g Next, Go5g Plus and Magenta MAX and Plus gives up to 5GB of high speed data, unlimited texts and calls at $.25/min. The T-Mobile Go5G, Magenta & ONE plans only gives 256Kbps.
I used to have the Go5g Next plan that has up to 5gb of high speed data. The high data works decently in the cities, but in more rural areas, it’s sometimes OK, sometimes only 3g and slow.
It worked well enough for simple emails, Whatsapp texts and Google Maps/Waze but anything more like downloading/uploading or streaming on Youtube, opening heavy websites (surfing the web) or watching videos on Instagram, it was pretty slow.
If you need high speed Internet throughout your whole trip, I recommend to get their International Pass or rent a wifi hot spot.
ur partnership with Adobe Rent a Car gives an extra benefit for wifi hot spots, get more details here about our Costa Rica car rental discount and benefits.
How to Recharge Your prepaid SIM Card in Costa Rica
You can recharge your prepaid SIM card at the supermarket, convenience store, cell phone stores or the phone company’s office.
Business will have a sign with the phone company’s logo to indicate they can recharge SIM cards.
To add more credit, you must pay in cash in local currency (Costa Rican colones). Just tell the cashier Me puedo recargar mi X (Kolbi/Libery/Claro/etc.) and tell them how much or give them the cash.
Or just hold out your phone and say the name of the company.
You will also need to give them your phone number. Your phone number will be on your original receipt. There’s a good chance you’ll throw it away so I recommend taking a photo of your phone number.
How Much Credit Should I Put On My SIM Card in Costa Rica?
This depends on what you plan to use it for and how long you’re in Costa Rica. For one week in Costa Rica, we recommend to put 5000 colones on your prepaid SIM card (~$10 USD) at first and then you can recharge it later if need be.
This is usually a good amount to start with for those just using it for email and occasionally surfing the web.
Remember that uploading and watching videos will suck up your data on your SIM card fast so do that on Wi-Fi only.
If you plan to be uploading and using Instagram and Youtube a lot, I recommend to add more than 5000 colones to begin with because those apps suck up a lot of data.
With Kolbi, if your SIM card has not been used, recharged or have any activity, the card will expire after 90 days.
How to Check Your Balance (Kolbi)
For Kolbi customers, type *888# and then select option 1 to check your balance. You can also send a text to 888 with the word SALDO.
eSIM
Many of the latest phones have eSIM which you can use in Costa Rica. eSIMs are actually very practical and convenient as you do not have to have a physical SIM card anymore.
The app will present you options of various international packages that you can choose from. Once you choose the package you want and purchase it, they’ll show you the steps on how to activate the eSIM which is fairly simple.
Then you can upgrade your package, purchase another one or modify it right within the app. There is no need to purchase any physical SIM card for eSIMs.
Our iPhone 14s uses eSIMS. We have used two different eSIM providers when we travel abroad. Both of them have plans in Costa Rica: Airalo and Holafly.
Get 10% off your Airalo eSIM package with our promo code “mytanfeet” and use our promo code MYTANFEET to get 5% off Holafly. Holafly has plans with calls, text and data. Airalo is mostly data only.
Get ready for Costa Rica with these other posts!
Guide to finding accommodation in Costa Rica
Immigration and customs in SJO and LIR Airport
Costa Rica Vacation Checklist
- First time to Costa Rica? Read our First Time in Costa Rica guide.
- Not sure how to move around Costa Rica? Read our How to Get Around Costa Rica guide to find the best transportation method for you.
- Click the link to get our detailed Costa Rica Packing List so you know what essential items to bring.
- Check our Costa Rica destinations map and Costa Rica restaurant map
- Do not forget to purchase Travel Insurance for your trip to Costa Rica.
- Save money with Mytanfeet Deals for tours and hotels and our Costa Rica Car Rental Discount.
Bill M says
Smart phone neophyte here, Will need to use gps ( waze ) to get from Conchal to Montezuma and for emergency calls, will be in CR for 3 weeks but will be using wifi on my tablet except for the above mentioned. How much data should I purchase?
Pura Vida
Sammi says
I would get maybe like 5000 colones first and then you can refill it later if you need to
Rachael says
Hi!
I hope this isn’t a dumb question… but we are getting wi-fi in our rental car and have wi-fi at the place we’re staying.. do we still need to get the sim card or will we have access to the web/gps/etc just from having wifi?
I read somewhere else we need to be able to put our phone in GSM mode.. is that something you’re familiar with or if we have an unlocked smart phone can we just get a sim card at the airport and be on our way? I’d like to avoid getting the international plan with Verizon due to the expense.
And finally do we need to request the phone be unlocked whether or not we are just using wi-fi?
Sammi says
If you plan to use only the Wi-Fi hot spot, it will give you Internet on your phone like normal, just like if you were connecting to the Wi-Fi at your home. Put your phone in Airplane mode so you don’t get charged for roaming, turn on Wi-fi and connect to the hotspot.
If you want to get a prepaid sim card, your phone has to be unlocked and must take a sim card. It doesn’t need to be unlocked if you plan to use Wi-Fi only.
Hans says
Just my experience. Got the Kolbi sim at SJO airport on arrival Aug 17th. They could not do the all in max plan for some reason. Said there was system problems so then had to got to a grocery store and put 5000 colones on after the 100MB included with the $2 at the initial purchase.
Does not seem they advertise or want to sell 2GB of data for $10. Instead they want you to buy data at regular prepaid rates.
J says
Just wanted to leave this here for folks who no longer have their SIM card pin and need it (which would happen if you restart your phone. You can call 1193 from someone else’s phone that has Kolbi and request what’s called a PUK number (you can request support in English). The PUK is the number that you will need to enter on your phone after you’ve entered in the incorrect SIM pin too many times. All you need to do is provide the rep with the ID number that you used to purchase the SIM card ie your passport number. This can also be avoided if you change the SIM pin in your phone settings when your first get the SIM card.
Amit Singh says
Hi there, just arrived at Liberia airport & that Kolbi stand looks to have become an Amstar tourism stand.
Jeff says
Our flight arrives at 11:55 p.m. on July 7. Can I count on being able to buy a SIM Card at the airport at that late hour? Thank you in advance for your time.
Sammi says
The Kolbi stand closes at 1015 PM.
Jeff says
What if i have a Kolbi sim card that I activated several years ago while on vacation in CR. Can I somehow pay and reactivate it online with them?
Sammi says
I don’t believe it will work, they recycle numbers so it has already been sold to someone else if it’s been a few years ago. You can try that first when you go to the Kolbi stand if you want though.
Kiana says
Hi! I’m studying abroad in CR for 6 weeks and recently had the volunteer coordinator for my program purchase a Kolbi SIM card for me. However, I am not sure how much data I have on it. Is there a way I can check this? Thank you!
Sammi says
Hi Kiana, type *1150# to check your balance.
Julie says
Hi. I am coming to Costa Rica in May and will need a SIM card that will allow me to upload video and pictures to social media for work purposes. Can you advise what would be the best thing for me to do. I have an iphone8. Thanks
Sammi says
Hi Julie, you can see what plans they offer when you pick up the SIM card because if you’re streaming or uploading/video and photos, that will take up a lot of data and you should see if they have a data package plan for however long you’re staying at. Also you can always save photos and videos on Instagram and upload the later when you are connected to Wi-Fi so you don’t have to do everything using your data.
Joanne says
Are the prepaid SIM cards nano size?
Sammi says
Yeison has a Iphone 8+ that uses a nano, for prepaid they should have one.
Chani says
Hi there!
I purchased a prepaid SIM card at the airport Kolbi kiosk while in CR 6 months ago. I was really pleased with how it well it worked out, such good value. I am returning soon and wondered if I will be able to simply recharge the same card? Or will I have to purchase a new package?
Thank you for your help. Pure vida!
Sammi says
Hi Chani, the cards expire if the number hasn’t been used for a certain period of time (I think a few weeks or a month) so you’ll have to buy a new one.