The best source of information about Costa Rica is the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT), Apartado 777, San José 1000, Costa Rica (tel 506/223-1733, fax 223-5452) - you can write to them from abroad, though it may take a while to receive a reply, and you'll probably just be given the same glossy brochures that are handed out at embassies. You're better off visiting them in person at their office in the unprepossessing bunker underneath the Plaza de la Cultura in central San José, where the friendly bilingual staff will do their best to answer any queries you may have. On request, they'll also give you a free city map, plus a very useful and comprehensive bus timetable with recent additions and changes corrected on the spot. The office also has a full (though not necessarily up-to-date) list of practically all the hotels in the country, with prices, addresses and telephone numbers, a list of museums and their opening hours, and details of many San José restaurants and nightclubs. The small ICT booth at the Santamaría International Airport doesn't offer free timetables but may have the hotel lists. Apart from this, there are no tourist offices outside the capital, and you'll generally have to rely on locally run initiatives, often set up by a small business association or the chamber of commerce, or hotels and tourist agencies. A number of San José-based tour operators can offer guidance when planning a trip around the country.

On the Internet , www.centralamerica.com and www.incostarica.net both have links to thousands of Costa Rican Web sites; other sites with good links include www.latinguia.com and www.terra.co.cr . Weekly news on the country in English can be found at www.ticotimes.co.cr , and Costa Rica's leading daily newspaper is online at www.nacion.co.cr .