It can be difficult planning a vacation, especially to a new country that you’ve never visited before. Lots of moving parts and details to keep track of. What to pack, logistics, passport control and even optimizing your frequent flyer program participation.
Want to really throw a curve-ball into your vacation plans? Pack a drone without checking on the local rules. Or worse, don’t pack it at all because the rules are so confusing.
Our most popular article ever is our primer on what you you need to know if you’re taking your drone to Mexico. So with Costa Rica becoming more and more popular with tourists and travelers alike, we decided to craft a second article on Costa Rica’s very tight drone rules.
Like Canada, Costa Rica is actively developing drone rules with requirements for training, testing, licensing and more. They’ve even gone so far as to make a high school diploma and a medical certificate a requirement registered drone pilots.
Thanfully, Costa Rica’s new rules only apply to commercial drone operators. Recreational pilots are not required to register their drones, and are expected to follow the basic rules as outlined by the Direccion General de Aviacion Civll (DGAC) below.
There is ample evidence in the forums for many drone vacationers who have flown their aerial cameras all over Costa Rica without incident. And in all of our research on Costa Rica’s drone rules, we have yet to find one incident where a drone pilot ran into issues.
- You cannot fly higher than 120 meters (400 feet)
- You must fly at least 8km (5 miles) from an airport
- You cannot fly wiht 30 meters (100 feet) of any house or building
- You cannot fly over large activities or groups of people without prior authorization
- You must fly your drone during dayling hours and only fly in good weather conditions
- Do not fly your drone above buildings, or around built up areas
In addition to the above general rules, specific no fly zones exist in Costa Rica around:
- Arenal Volcano
- La Palma passage
- Zurqui Tunnel
- el Murcielago Police Training Center
- La Reforma Prison
- The Presidental House
- El Ministerio de seguridad publica
If you’re a commercial operator, your drone must have a label on it that clearly identifies the operator/owner of the drone and your contact information as well as your drone registration # with the DGAC, available online here.
As a backstop, we always rely on UAV Systems International‘s list of drone rules by country. It’s a difficult database to manage, with constantly changing rules, but we have yet to find a better resource.
Happy travels, amigo! We look forward to seeing your drone shots !
Just to clarify something about the page 32 of than document(Directiva Operacional)
“All operators must have a license with equivalent of 48 hours of technical/theoretical instruction and 10 hours of practical training by a school/facility authorized by the DGAC.”
That measure only applies as for commercial drone operators only.
Last week I was in Manuel Antonio and we had not problems at all not even in the entrance(where guards check your stuff) . There where about two more Drones flying peacefully.
Pura vida!!
That’s awesome news because that’s exactly where we will be going. Any places I should definelty go to get good shots?
Just come back from Costa Rica. I had no problem with the border with my Mavic pro 2 and two additional batteries. I flew in different locations : Arenal, Monteverde, Tortuguero and Carara National park. I just always tried to find a quiet place to take off. No problem at all. I tried at Rio Celeste to film the amazing waterfall but down close to the waterfall, I couldn’t get the GPS mode so I decided to not fly. But really easy, no problem in Costa Rica. Right now I’m in Mexico and I also had no problem at the border.
Thanks Seb!
It’s always great when we get real “boots on the ground” updates from readers traveling with their drone. Enjoy Mexico!