Costa Rica on an Australian Licence — The Side Switch & One-Lane Bridges

Costa Rica rewards the self-driver — the volcanoes, cloud forests and Pacific beaches are far easier to reach with your own car than by bus — but for an Australian it asks two adjustments. One is the side of the road. The other, bigger one, is the road itself.

You drive on the right here. Coming from Australia that reflex takes a day to settle: the moments that catch people out are roundabouts flowing the other way, exits from petrol stations, and the instinctive glance in the wrong direction at a junction. Take your first hour somewhere quiet and check yourself at every turn.

The roads then redefine what “highway” means. Away from the Ruta 1 and the San José ring, expect narrow mountain switchbacks, potholes, and single-lane bridges where one direction gives way — a small sign, ceda el paso, tells you who yields. Surfaces deteriorate fast in the May-to-November green season, and unpaved sections to popular beaches are common. A 4x4 is not vanity here; it is often the difference between reaching a lodge and turning back. Speeds reflect all this: 40 km/h in towns, 60 rural, 100 on the handful of motorway stretches.

Paperwork is the easy part. Your Australian licence needs no IDP for a tourist stay — carry it with your passport and you are legal. Confirm the detail on the Driving Permit Checker. The alcohol limit is 0.05, the same as most Australian states, but enforcement is real and fines for drink-driving are steep.

Speed enforcement is mostly fixed cameras and police checks on the main roads; a serious overspeed (about 20 km/h over) runs to roughly CRC 53,000 (around EUR 95), which you can estimate on the Speeding Fine Calculator. Fuel is about $1.28/litre, the all-services emergency number is 911, and offline maps are essential where signal drops in the hills. The full picture is in our Costa Rica driving guide.