Costa Rica
Last verified August 7, 2026
Written for U.S. passport holders
License Requirements
- As a tourist, you can drive on your valid U.S. license alone for up to 3 months — no International Driving Permit is required, since Costa Rica accepts licenses in the Latin alphabet without a separate translation or permit.
- Always carry your passport alongside your license, since it's what documents your tourist status.
If You Stay Longer
- Past 3 months, a foreign license is no longer sufficient — you're required to 'homologate' it (formally validate it as a Costa Rican license) through MOPT's Conductor Accreditation System, or you risk penalties for driving on an unconverted foreign license.
The Gotcha
Costa Rica is unusually simple for a short trip — no IDP, just your U.S. license and passport — but that simplicity has a hard deadline: 3 months, not 90 days measured some other way, and not renewable by leaving and re-entering the way some visa rules work elsewhere on this site. Past that point you need to have already started the homologation process.
Sources
This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change — check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.
- Extranjeros en condición de turistas podrán utilizar su licencia de conducir — Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), Costa Rica