Although Costa Rica is a relatively small country (51,100 square kilometers, for comparison: Germany with 357,000 square kilometers or Austria with about 83,900 square kilometers), which lies in the tropical climate zone, the weather conditions differ greatly depending on the region due to several hundred sin e different microclimates. Even the dry and rainy seasons, into which Costa Rica’s climate is often divided, hardly ever apply to the country. It can happen, for example, that it rains in the central valley, but the weather is entirely different on the coasts or in the highlands.

The location between the two oceans, the different altitudes, and the multitude of volcanic reliefs also strongly influence the climate of the individual regions: the Atlantic coast has an ever-humid tropical climate, and the Pacific coast has an alternating humid (also called summer-humid) tropical climate. Therefore, it isn’t easy to generally speak about the weather in Costa Rica and determine the best time to travel. Instead, looking at individual parts of the country makes more sense.