In downtown San José you need to be wary at all times. Wear a money belt, and never carry anything of value - money, tickets or passport - in an outside pocket. It has also been known for luggage to be stolen while you are distracted or while it is being kept supposedly secure in a left-luggage facility. Never hand your baggage to strangers, except the airport porters, who have official identification. If storing your bags in a hotel or guesthouse while you are travelling around the country, make sure it's locked, has your name prominently written on it, and that you have left instructions for it not to be removed by anyone but yourself, under any circumstances. Car theft - both of cars and things inside them - also occurs. You should not leave anything of value in a parked car - even locked in the trunk - anywhere in Costa Rica, day or night.

In addition, keep copies of your passport, your air ticket and your travellers' cheques, plus your insurance policy at home; and, if possible, keep extra copies in your hotel. In Costa Rica you have to carry ID on you at all times - for foreigners this means carrying your passport . A photocopy of your passport - of the information-bearing pages and the page with your Costa Rican entry stamp - will do (the police understand tourists' reluctance to go about with their passports all the time), but if you are stopped and asked for ID, make sure you can produce the real thing - by going to your hotel, for example - in case the police demand to see it.