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I wear shorts in Costa Rica, but they usually are very baggy and end just above the knees. IMHO nothing will make you look like a tourist more than wearing shorts, especially in the city, and especially if you are too old to be wearing them! LOL
The Costa Ricans very rarely wear shorts and Maravilla is dead right! Wearing shorts normally means “tourist.”
Scott
I usually wear long pants in San Jose; or at least capris. However, out at the coast even a lot of the ticos wear shorts that are around the tourist areas. I’ll never forget my first trip to San Isidro; we got out of the car in shorts and flip-flops with a camera around our neck. We looked comical…….no one had to guess where we were from.
Cindy
Wear shorts when you want to do so and feel comfortable…BUT use insect repelant.
Wear long pants if you are walking through grass… This keeps the “noseeums” off and deters the misquitos…
If you do wear shorts and you don’t use insect repelant, be sure to carry anti-itch cream for the 3 AM wakeup call…
Just try not to wear as men do back in gringo land: wearing black dress socks up to the knee with shorts or those hilarious plaid pants or candy colored pants they wear in country clubs or on the golf cours back home. We don’t want ticos burst out laughing.
Those outfits should be outlawed everywhere, even here in Gringolandia. You can’t possibly blend into a culture when you stick out like a sore thumb — it’s like wearing a neon sign that blinks TOURIST and TARGET!!!
BOTH! I’m not a fashionista but there are some things that just should NOT be worn by either sex and you know what I’m talking about. a part of me that thinks we should respect the culture in the country we’re in and dress appropriately. At the beach where people wear all kinds of garb it’s not such a big deal, but in the cities I think beachwear is inappropriate. Kind of like American tourists wearing shorts into Notre Dame in Paris. I now think in some places shorts are forbidden in cathedrals — they had to actually make a ruling on that because people didn’t use common sense. But then again, I’ve seen some Ticas wearing skimpy clothing I wouldnn’t be caught dead in and they were close to my age!
To Stolisprit: Of course I was writing about men. I do not think women would wear black dress socks with shorts. They may wear sexy outfits but when it comes to fashionable looks I believe women over 21 have a lot more taste than men and I am a man myself. Maravilla is right! Sometimes it is a disgrace the way our fellow american dress or behave in other countries and I was travelling a lot in the past to have this opinion. So, lets not give ticos one more reason to resent us – the rest of the world already has enough reasons.
This a very interesting topic. Until now, I never gave it a second thought (wearing shorts in Costa Rica.) Now that it has been mentioned, I can’t recall seeing a Tico or Tica in shorts, in the cities. I had no idea that there was somewhat of a taboo on shorts but I do understand what has been said so far. You see, where I come from, I wear shorts year round, including work and so does my employer. In fact, I would say 60% of the business men here wear shorts to work, to parties, to meetings, to dinner in fine restaurants and to church. I mean, what else would we wear in Bermuda but our beloved Bermuda Shorts with long knee length socks? Did I mention that I live in Bermuda? http://bermuda.com/picturesvideo/culture_gallery.php
I will remember though, when we next return to Costa Rica, to pack some long trousers. I do have a few pair, somewhere, I will just have to hunt for them.Before you even mentioned living in Bermuda, I’d already guessed. Just saw a documentary on the Travel Channel about Bermuda shorts and they showed all kinds of officials and high powered businessmen walking around with the uniform. It’s definitely a cultural thing!
To me, Costa Rica’s climate is perfect for shorts. Bermuda gets a little cold in the winter and most people don the longer variety. I wear mine year round except for when we go out to dinner on a wintery evening.
I will agree with one of the previous postings, there was a couple areas we visited in January and what ever the insects were must have thought that their birthdays had all come at once. Boy did I get bitten. I found that Off works really well.I stick out like a sore thumb wherever I go in CR anyway, so I might as well be comfortable in shorts. Your best bet is to get those pants with zippers on the legs that convert to shorts. The temperature changes are extreme as you go up and down in altitude, and you never know when you’ll need them (I know people who have altimeters in their cars – sometimes more useful than compasses). Also, if you go some place where shorts are not allowed, like the Courthouse, you won’t be turned away.
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