Staying Connected With Holafly Costa Rica – 8 Top Tips
Having an excellent data plan while traveling in Costa Rica is imperative. Not only do you save yourself time and money, but staying connected means you can make the most out of your dream vacation to Costa Rica. Here’s how to get the most data for the best price with Holafly Costa Rica.
We recently had our best trip to Costa Rica EVER, and in part, it was because we finally splurged on unlimited data. We’ve done everything in the past- relying on hotel Wifi, renting a hot spot from our rental car agency, using local physical SIMS, and trying to get away with the least amount of data on an eSIM to save money.
During this trip, we partnered with the eSIM company Holafly to test out unlimited data in Costa Rica, and it was the best decision I have made- we will never go back to scraping by with as little data as possible. In this post, I’ll tell you all the reasons we love Holafly.
Don’t need convincing? Save 5% on your Holafly purchase now.
TL:DR – Don’t go to Costa Rica Without Holafly
- Holafly is the best deal for unlimited data in Costa Rica, especially with my Holafly coupon for 5% off.
- Unlimited data unlocks navigation using Waze. This makes renting a car in Costa Rica even easier as generally the new rental cars have screens and sync with your phone. We went to so many cool places we couldn’t have found without navigation.
- With unlimited data, you can use WhatsApp to communicate with all your hotels, restaurants, and tour operators on the go. If plans change or you are running late, (which happens all the time in Costa Rica) you can let tour professionals know on the fly.
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About Testing Holafly Costa Rica
We recently spent the most EPIC month in Costa Rica. While we no longer live in Costa Rica, we make sure to spend a month there in July each year. I think Costa Rica is absolutely the best international travel destination, and as my girls get older I am finding this to be more and more true.
Our MO is to fly in, stay at Adventure Inn the first night, rent a car from Adobe Rental Car, and hit the road to explore. We have been to almost every corner of Costa Rica, and we fall deeper and deeper in love with the country with every kilometer we travel.
Part of what made this particular trip so epic, though, was that I decided to NOT be cheap with cell phone data and usage. Costa Rica is an expensive country compared to many countries in Latin America, and with our extended stays in Costa Rica, I am always looking for ways to cut costs. But actually, having unlimited data with Holafly not only made our trip cheaper, but it was easier too.
In this article, I’ll give you 8 reasons Holafly is a great eSIM option for Costa Rica, and also tell you some of the things I didn’t love about Holafly. This article should help you make the best decision for data for your trip to Costa Rica.
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8 Reasons Holafly is the BEST eSIM For Costa Rica
Always Connected
With Holafy Costa Rica, you will never have a second when you are not connected to the internet. You can easily activate your eSIM when you land (I did mine on the tarmac!) and when you get off the plane, you are ready to roll. This made is easy for us to confirm our airport pickup, call ahead to let the rental car company know we would be on the way, and order dinner to our hotel for when we arrived.
Even better, on our first day in Costa Rica, there was an international internet outage. With Holafly, we were able to access data even when we couldn’t get local internet.
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Cost Effective
I am eternally frugal- life is expensive! So I’m always looking for the best deal on data and internet plans in Costa Rica. I thought Holafly Costa Rica unlimited data was a great deal. I paid 66 Euros (about $73 US) for 23 days of unlimited data.
Most cell phone plans in the US offer coverage abroad, but the rate is usually $10/day. At that rate, I would have spent $230 for unlimited data. on our trip. Holafly unlimited data was less than half of that price, and it worked really well.
Also, a lot of times we choose just one phone to carry data to save money. But with the awesome price of Holafly data, we were able to carry data on both devices.
WhatsApp Is King
There is not a single application more useful in Costa Rica than WhatsApp (Waze comes a close second- more on that in a minute). Literally everyone does business through WhatsApp- it works for everything from booking tours to ordering takeout to asking the hotel’s front desk to bring an extra towel to your room.
We were able to save a lot of time in planning our vacation on the fly by contacting businesses and friends via WhatsApp. One of us drove while the other communicated via phone.
It was super helpful on tours too. We were able to let our guides know when to meet us and if we were running late.
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Seamless Navigation
Remember above where I told you Waze was super important in Costa Rica? Well, it is. Waze is a crowdsourced navigation app, and it’s super helpful in Costa Rica because locals report things in real-time, such as speed traps, wrecks, and construction.
In the past, we have just downloaded the Waze app offline before we drove a longer stretch. But often things would happen en route to our destination, and we wouldn’t know because we were offline.
On this trip, we were headed between the Caribbean coast and San Jose. On one of the big mountain passes, a semi-truck had lost control of his trailer, resulting in a traffic backup lasting miles and miles and hours and hours. We avoided it because, since we were online, someone reported the traffic jam to Waze, and Waze promptly rerouted us.
I honestly would have paid $1,000 for unlimited data just to avoid the headache of that wreck. We would have been stuck on the road for over 8 hours if we didn’t have real-time navigation.
SEE ALSO: Driving In Costa Rica – Complete Guide
Restaurants Near Me
If you’ve been to Costa Rica, you know there’s some type of restaurant on just about every corner. But it can be hard to decide which restaurants are the best ones. And if you are in the mood for a specific type of cuisine, it can be even more frustrating to find a place you want to eat.
With our Holafly Costa Rica unlimited data, we were able to do a local Google or Tripadvisor restaurant search, then put the address in Waze, and go right where we wanted to eat.
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Saves Time
With a traditional SIM card in Costa Rica, you have to find a place to buy one after you arrive. You also have to remove your own physical SIM card and then put the new local SIM card in your phone. Most of the SIM cards in Costa Rica are pay-as-you-go, so you often have to keep finding places to top up your data. It’s a pain. And don’t even get me started on the stress of having to keep track of your SIM card from home while you have the Costa Rica SIM in your phone.
With Holafly Costa Rica, I was able to toggle on local data from the tarmac while we waited for our plane to get to the gate. And I never had to worry about topping up my data as it was unlimited. It was so much easier.
You Can Keep iMessage and FaceTime
A lot of times when I travel, if I use an eSIM then I can’t access my US number while I am gone. It’s a pain to miss messages from friends and family while I’m abroad- especially when we are gone for an extended period of time.
With Holafly, you can keep your iMessage and FaceTime just like you do at home. So I didn’t miss updates from friends and family while I was aboard. There is nothing worse than getting home from vacation, turning back to local data, and having your phone ping with a month’s worth of messages. Holafly saved me that hassle.
Seamless Customer Service
I had a weird incident with Holafly, where my local Costa Rica bank didn’t recognize my IP address with Holafly. I’ll save you the boring parts, but essentially I was able to contact Holafly customer support via WhatsApp. They walked me through a super cool workaround involving a free VPN that helped me access my bank in Costa Rica. It was quick and friendly.
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Holafly Costa Rica Cons
Unlocked Phone
The main downside to Holafly is that you have to have an unlocked phone. Most major cell phone carriers in the United States lock your phone when you buy it so that you can only access cell service through their network.
Since Holafly is an independent data network, your phone must be unlocked to use it. it’s pretty easy to get your phone unlocked by requesting through the carrier that they unlock the phone for you. But it can take up to a week, so it’s best to do this in advance. To be fair, virtually any eSIM card needs an unlocked phone, so this is not unique to Holafly.
I highly recommend using Holafly for data and cell service for your next Costa Rica trip- or any international trip, really. They offer cell phone and data plans in over 200 destinations worldwide. Get 5% off your Holafly eSIM card here.
This post is sponsored by Holafly eSIMS. All opinions are my own.
Meet Christa
Hi, I’m Christa! I help families plan stress-free, culturally immersive trips to Costa Rica. As a home chef, I also share my passion for Costa Rican food through authentic recipes. My mission is to help your family fall in love with Costa Rica through practical advice, unforgettable experiences, and delicious meals.