Costa Rica on a Spanish Licence — Slow Roads, Real Potholes

A Costa Rican road trip rewards a Spanish driver with cloud forests, volcanoes and empty coast — but it is not the relaxed motorway cruise of home. The paperwork is easy; the road surface and the terrain are what you actually plan around.

The documents are genuinely simple. Tourists drive on a valid Spanish licence for up to 90 days, with no International Driving Permit needed — the licence stays good for as long as your passport entry stamp lasts. Carry both, since a checkpoint or rental desk may ask for the stamp date alongside the licence. Driving is on the right, the same as Spain, so there is no side to relearn and no orientation to lose at junctions.

What you are really preparing for is the road, not the rulebook. Costa Rica’s main routes are paved but frequently narrow, winding and slow through the mountains, and the limits reflect that: 40 km/h in towns, 60 on rural roads and 100 on the short motorway sections — markedly lower than Spanish numbers, and enforced. Two local features catch first-timers. Single-lane bridges (puentes de un solo carril) are common, where a sign tells one direction to yield; misread it and you meet a truck head-on. And in the green season, potholes open quickly and a smooth surface can deteriorate within a kilometre, so the safe speed is often well under the posted one. A small 4x4 is worth the money for anywhere off the main Pan-American route.

The drink-drive limit matches Spain at 0.05 and is best treated as zero, with the Tránsito police active on the main corridors; a moderate speeding fine runs around CRC 53,000 (about €95). Fuel is fixed nationally at roughly €1.28 a litre, so there is no point hunting for a cheaper pump. The emergency number is 911, and mobile signal vanishes in the hills — download offline maps before you leave the city.

For the wider picture — toll points, fording warnings and rental insurance traps — read our full Costa Rica driving guide, and estimate a penalty in advance with the Speeding Fine Calculator so a Tránsito stop holds no surprises.