Costa Rica Souvenirs: Buying Tips And Photo Galleries

Written by Nikki Solano

Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️

Want to know our pick for the BEST SOUVENIR PURCHASE in Costa Rica? It is featured on DIY Costa Rica!

We’re obsessed with buying souvenirs in Costa Rica

Ricky and I are addicted to collecting Costa Rica souvenirs. When we began exploring Costa Rica together in the mid-2000s, we developed the habit of picking up a little something at each place we visited. Now that we’ve been to nearly every place in Costa Rica, those little somethings have taken over our home and office.

If you’re wondering what types of souvenirs you can buy in Costa Rica, let our addiction be your inspiration. At the bottom of this article are photos of some (yes, only some) of the Costa Rica souvenirs that we’ve purchased over the years, divided into the following categories:

• Costa Rica souvenirs that highlight national pride
• Costa Rica souvenirs that showcase original artwork
• Costa Rica souvenirs that represent the local food and drink
• Costa Rica souvenirs that serve personal or practical uses
• Costa Rica souvenirs that can bring a little pura vida to your home décor

Which Costa Rica souvenirs will you take home? We dare you to buy just one. 😉

9 tips for buying souvenirs in Costa Rica

If you’d like to buy souvenirs during your trip, familiarize yourself with our Costa Rica souvenir buying tips below.

Seek out authentic Costa Rica souvenirs using our guide.

The souvenir stores inside Costa Rica’s airports, especially the large souvenir stores inside the SJO Airport, are deceptively impressive. They’re beautiful and alluring—full of color and quintessential Costa Rican imagery, with bouncy Costa Rican music playing on repeat—but the souvenirs they sell are typically mass-produced and often overpriced. You’ll find much more authentic souvenirs (in and among mass-produced souvenirs) outside of the airports, in communities and at attractions around the country. Here’s a brief guide to finding the most authentic souvenirs in Costa Rica:

• Purchase art directly from artists.
  Seek out art studios in Costa Rica to locate artists who create and sell their works on-site. Monteverde, in particular, is home to a ton of art galleries and studios, where original artwork can be purchased.
• Purchase Indigenous art directly from Indigenous artists creating in their home communities.
  Costa Rica is home to eight Indigenous groups, but the five Indigenous groups that provide the most tourist-friendly experiences, where you can obtain artwork directly from group members, are the:
  • Maleku: purchase art or seek Indigenous experiences in the La Fortuna and/or San Guatuso areas
  • BriBri: purchase art or seek Indigenous experiences in the Cahuita and/or Puerto Viejo de Talamanca areas
  • Chorotega: purchase art or seek Indigenous experiences in the Guaitil area, between Nicoya and Santa Cruz
  • Boruca: purchase art or seek Indigenous experiences in the Boruca area, in the Palmar Norte area
  • Cabecar: purchase art or seek Indigenous experiences in the Turrialba area
• Purchase Indigenous art from a fair-trade store, if you aren’t able to purchase it direct from the Indigenous artist.
  There’s a fabulous fair-trade Indigenous art store in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city, and another one just outside of the city of Alajuela, not far from the SJO Airport.
• Purchase wood pieces directly from artisans at woodshops.
  Sarchi, the artisan capital of Costa Rica, is home to woodshops and a great place to purchase wood pieces with the traditional hand-painted designs that resemble the geometric patterns on Costa Rican oxcarts. Alternatively, seek out woodshops around the country. Monteverde, La Fortuna, and Escazu have well-known ones.
• Purchase crafts directly from artisans that belong to a cooperative.
  Small cooperatives dot Costa Rica, but two particularly noteworthy ones exist in Monteverde and in the Buenos Aires/La Amistad area.
• Purchase coffee directly from a coffee farmer.
  Coffee is produced in several parts of Costa Rica, so there are lots of places where you can pick up a bag of coffee beans or fresh-ground coffee. If you’re a coffee aficionado, here are a few destinations to consider visiting:
  • Popular destinations: Monteverde, Atenas, Poas, and Heredia
  • Off-the-beaten-path destinations: Zona de los Santos/Tarrazu, Buenos Aires/La Amistad, Naranjo, Tres Rios/Irazu, Orosi, and Turrialba
• Purchase cacao (chocolate) directly from a cacao farmer or a chocolate-maker.
  The best place for farming cacao is the Caribbean coast. Chocolate, a product of cacao farming, is made in several places in Costa Rica. If you love chocolate, consider purchasing some from a cacao plantation in the Cahuita, BriBri, or Puerto Viejo de Talamanca areas, or from a chocolate shop elsewhere in the country. You’ll find popular ones in San Jose, La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Brasilito, plus a handful of off-the-beaten-path ones, such as those near Puerto Jimenez and Drake Bay.

Of course, you can also find artwork, wood pieces, crafts, coffee, and chocolate (among lots of other products) at the souvenir stores inside Costa Rica’s airports, you’ll just pay a premium per item for them there.

Purchase Costa Rica souvenirs at airport souvenir shops only in two cases.

There are two cases when you might want to buy Costa Rica souvenirs at airport souvenir stores:

1. If you need to buy a variety of the same souvenir
2. If you need to buy souvenirs in bulk

Airport souvenir stores are large and house a lot of stock. If you’re buying for a big group of people and you want to give each person a unique version of the same souvenir (hats in different colors or bracelets in different styles, for example), you’ll appreciate the wide variety of options that the airport souvenir shops provide. You may also appreciate the bulk deals that are available, which are usually “buy X number of souvenirs, get one free” deals (most often buy 3 and get the 4th free) or deals where bulk purchases are eligible for a discount, and the discount amount increases with the number of products bought. T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, magnets, bags of chocolates, and bags of coffee tend to qualify for the deals. Other items that you can find at airport souvenir stores include, but aren’t limited to:

• Jewelry, pins, and keychains
• Coffee-table books, notebooks, and postcards
• Stuffed animals, toys, and playing cards
• Purses, wallets, and tote bags
• Maps, signs, novelty license plates, and stickers
• Dishes, including plates, mugs, bottles, and bowls
• Towels, hammocks, and sarongs
• Rocking chairs that can be shipped internationally
• Bottles of rum, sugarcane guaro liquor (Cacique), and beer, plus koozies and glasses, including shot glasses

Don’t buy Costa Rica souvenirs from hotel souvenir shops.

The small souvenir stores you’ll find inside hotels, usually near the reception desk, cater to the desperate. Their selection of souvenirs is typically limited and their prices are predictably astronomical. Unless you need to get your hands on a souvenir fast, avoid shopping at hotel shops for your Costa Rica souvenirs.

Consider the local grocery store a souvenir shop.

A lot of the souvenirs that Costa Rica visitors take home with them are food or drink products that they sample and fall in love with during their trip. Fortunately, several of those items can be purchased from grocery stores in Costa Rica, helping to make “souvenir shopping” easy, convenient, and affordable. Here are some key products that you may want to pick up at a local grocery store:

• Bags of coffee, if not purchased directly from a coffee farmer (see above)
• Chocolates, if not purchased directly from a coffee farmer (see above)
• Bottles of Salsa Lizano, the popular Costa Rican condiment

This suggestion may seem strange, but containers of solid Costa Rican dish soap (Axion, Irex, and other brands) are other somewhat popular take-home items. The soap works wonders on dishes and even tough stains in clothing, and it’s easy to pack in your luggage.

Don’t leave your souvenir shopping until the last day of your trip.

Purchasing souvenirs throughout your trip is a good way to ensure that you collect mementos that serve as reminders of special travel experiences, such as tours, restaurant meals, destination visit, hotel stays, road trips, or other noteworthy experiences. (If you leave your souvenir shopping until the end of your trip, the souvenirs you purchase may not provide the same sentimental value as souvenirs purchased during the moments you want to remember.) In addition, if you leave your souvenir shopping until the end of your trip, you may find yourself stocking up on whichever items are available last-minute, including souvenirs that you don’t particularly like and/or souvenirs that are overpriced. Strive to acquire meaningful items that represent positive memories, not emotionless junk.

Buy Costa Rican souvenirs you actually like and plan to display, use, or enjoy.

We started this article by admitting that we have way too much Costa Rican paraphernalia. Some of it is displayed proudly around our home and office, but the rest of it is buried in storage bins, where it serves no purpose other than to take up room. When buying souvenirs in Costa Rica, ask yourself what purpose they’ll serve. If they won’t benefit you somehow, even in the simple way of bringing a smile to your face when you catch a glimpse of them on your wall, shelf, or desk, don’t waste your hard-earned funds on them.

Buy the Costa Rica souvenirs you like the moment you see them.

Not all souvenir stores carry the same products, so if you spot something of interest to you, buy it before you move to a new destination. Of course, if you want to hit up a few souvenir stores around town before you make a purchase, to see if the same item happens to sell for a lower price at a neighboring shop, that’s okay. Just don’t leave one destination, such as La Fortuna or Monteverde, and expect to find duplicate souvenirs for sale at stores in beach towns on either coast.

It’s also worth knowing that most souvenir stores in Costa Rica are small and don’t carry tons of product. If you spot a souvenir that you like, don’t wait too long to buy it, or you’ll risk missing out on it altogether.

Pay for Costa Rica souvenirs in the currency they’re priced in.

Souvenir stores at popular tourist destinations tend to price souvenirs in USD, or in both USD and Costa Rican colones, but smaller shops, roadside stalls, and booths on beaches typically sell items priced in Costa Rican colones only. (Note that although large souvenir stores accept VISA and Mastercard payments, some smaller establishments only accept cash payments.) Paying store tenders with the type of currency that they’ve priced souvenirs in avoids the task of currency exchange, and subsequently, minimizes the risk of money loss due to errors in currency conversion calculation or the use of poor currency conversion rates.

Need help converting American Dollars (USD) to Costa Rican Colones, or vice versa? Don’t miss our related blog post:

Costa Rican Colones To American Dollars: Exchanging Money In Costa Rica 

Don’t barter for Costa Rica souvenirs.

Price bartering between shop employees and customers sometimes takes place in Costa Rica, and every time that we see it, we cringe. The practice isn’t common among locals, so when visitors engage in it, it comes across as tacky, disrespectful, and an exhibition of entitlement.

Yes, some souvenirs are overpriced because they’re specifically priced for tourists. Albeit frustrating, if you encounter overpriced souvenirs during your trip, our best advice is this: if the price is higher than what you feel the souvenir is worth, don’t buy the souvenir, and move on. Furthermore, if you come across a souvenir that’s already priced fairly, pay the listed price, and don’t barter. The difference in price between what is owed and what you could get by bartering might be the store owner’s dinner, their bus ticket to go home, or a payment toward their child’s school uniform. It’s likely pocket change to you, but it could be life-changing to someone else.

Costa Rica souvenir photos: Souvenirs that highlight national pride

Costa Rica souvenir photos: Souvenirs that showcase original artwork

Costa Rica souvenir photos: Souvenirs that represent the local food and drink

Costa Rica souvenir photos: Souvenirs that serve personal or practical uses

Costa Rica souvenir photos: Souvenirs that can bring a little pura vida to your home décor

Pura vida!

Do you have questions about any of the souvenirs pictured above, want help deciding what to buy in Costa Rica, or need help determining where to shop during your vacation? No problem! When you’re ready, make an appointment here to communicate with me (Nikki) privately and we can discuss these and other topics to get your questions answered fast and your Costa Rica trip poised for success. Pura vida, amigos! 🙂

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