Best eSIM for Costa Rica

Costa Rica has a quirk that turns mobile data from a convenience into a necessity: most places do not have street addresses. Directions are given in relation to landmarks — so many metres north of a church, past the old fig tree — and visitors navigate almost entirely by map pin. Add a self-drive itinerary, which is how most people see Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio, and you have a trip where the phone is the map, the lodge booking, the road-condition check and the way you tell a hotel you are running two hours late on a gravel road. A travel eSIM installed at home is connected before you collect the rental car at Juan Santamaría (SJO) or Liberia (LIR), which is exactly when you need it. See the plans above.

Costa Rica trips usually run eight to twelve days and cover three or four bases, so buy validity that covers the whole loop rather than the longest single stay. Data use is dominated by navigation: live maps on winding roads, plus rebooking when a fog bank on the Monteverde road changes the plan. Choose a plan that allows hotspot if you are travelling as a family and only one phone carries data. You do not need a Costa Rican number — tour operators, shuttle companies and lodges all work by messaging and email. Coverage rather than raw speed is the thing to optimise for here, because 4G is the workhorse and reaches further than fast data does. If you are pairing Costa Rica with Panama or Nicaragua, look at a regional plan that spans Central America. Top up by buying another plan, and check your phone on the device page.

The main mobile networks in Costa Rica are Kölbi, run by the state utility ICE, and Liberty. Your eSIM connects automatically to whichever partner network is strongest, which is worth having in a country where one operator can be solid in a valley the other misses. The Central Valley, the Pacific resort towns and the main highways are well covered; the mountain roads, the Osa Peninsula and the Caribbean lowlands around Tortuguero are where you should expect gaps.

• San José and the Central Valley — the strongest and most consistent service
• La Fortuna and Arenal — good in town, patchy on the lake road and hanging bridges
• Monteverde — workable in Santa Elena, unreliable in the cloud forest reserve
• Manuel Antonio and Tamarindo — dependable along the coast strip

For a driving holiday, the eSIM is the practical choice because navigation has to work from the moment you leave the airport, not after a shop visit. A local SIM makes sense if you are staying for months. Roaming is only worth it for a very short business trip to the capital.

1. Buy the plan above; the QR code arrives by email in minutes.
2. iPhone on iOS 17.4 or later: tap the install link. Otherwise Settings, then Mobile Data, then Add eSIM.
3. Android: Settings, then Connections or Network, then SIM manager, then Add eSIM, then scan the QR code.
4. Label the line Costa Rica so it is easy to identify.
5. Turn Data Roaming on for the eSIM line and mobile data off on your home SIM, which stays active for calls and OTPs.
6. On landing at Juan Santamaría or Liberia, set the eSIM as your data line before you pick up the car. The plan starts counting at that first connection.

Install on Wi-Fi at home a few days before the flight and leave the line switched off. Validity only begins when the eSIM first connects to a Costa Rican network, so installing early costs you nothing and saves you configuring a phone in a car park. Many routes connect through Panama City, Miami or Mexico City; keep the eSIM disabled on those layovers and enable it once you are on the ground in Costa Rica.