Online dating in Costa Rica has become quite popular in very much the same way as it has in Panama. I went to Costa Rica in college on a trip to explore the ecotourism side of the country and was fortunate enough to interact with many Costa Ricans. I found the people of the country warm, friendly, and very hospitable.
Costa Rican Model – Fabiana Granados Herrera (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Should you be a lonely expatriate or traveler considering moving to or going to Costa Rica for a stint, I highly recommend you give online dating a try due to the large pool of singles you will find on the top online dating sites that service the country. Costa Rica, like Panama, is also a popular place to retire. So if you are a single retiree tired of the life in wherever country you are, consider giving Costa Rica a chance.
Most Costa Ricans still meet their romantic partners via the traditional methods of mutual friends, organizations, work, school, or church, etc; however, the 21st century rise of online dating and the decline in the stigma associated with it have led to thousands of people joining dating sites in search of love. In order to put yourself in a position for the best success, try to live close to San José, which is the most modern of all cities in Costa Rica and has the most online dating users.
Should you decide to sign up for the online dating sites or apps I recommend below, be sure to read member profiles carefully as you might come across a lot of fake profiles. Usually, I can spot these profiles easily. A woman who has only one picture posted, is wearing a tight bikini and making an overly suggestive pose are usually clear signals to steer clear. Also look out for women who have next to nothing written on their profiles.
Without further ado, here is the quick list of the top three dating sites & apps in Costa Rica. I’ll go into more detail in my reviews below.
Costa Rican Model – Maria Amalia Matamoros (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Latin American Cupid would be the site that I would focus 90% of my attention on. It is the best site for online dating in Costa Rica in my book.
If you run a simple search of women 21-35 who live in Costa Rica, you will be able to browse through more than 1000 profiles. The selection of women and men on this site is not near what you will find at the site I mention below, but for what you lack in numbers, you more than make up for in terms of quality. I’m also a big fan of the site’s interface and identity verification tool.
Latin American Cupid
Latin American Cupid seems to have a lot of men and women on the site living in San José, so, if you are planning to use this site, living in San José seems like your best bet for attaining success.
The site has a professional appearance that is available in 8 different languages and features a user-friendly interface. Like all other dating sites, it has its fair share of scammers who are looking to make a quick buck, but those profiles are pretty easy to spot.
Sign Up Process
The sign up process for LatinAmericanCupid is simple. You’ll begin by entering your name, gender, email, and creating a password. Next you’ll be able to create a profile by entering a blurb that describes yourself and what you are looking for in a partner, and then you are done.
The profile isn’t technically complete, but at this point you are allowed to browse member profiles and start meeting people.
How to Locate Potential Matches
Once you have entered information that describes what you are searching for in an ideal match, the site will give you profiles that match your criteria. You can choose to view the profiles by photos, basic view, more detailed view, and profile information.
You can also sort the profiles they send you by newest members, photos first, most recently active, and relevance to your criteria.
Another cool feature is the ability to create your own search that includes details like age, location, ethnicity, body build, and even their zodiac sign.
How to Communicate with Other Members
If you choose to use the free membership, messaging is fairly basic. You can communicate with any members on the site by sending interest, adding someone as a favorite, visiting profiles, and sending locked messages. None of these options actually allow you to have real conversations; they simply let the other member know you are online and are interested in them.
If you would like to initiate any communication and attempt to build a friendship or a relationship, you’ll have to upgrade to a premium account. That said, once you pay for the premium membership, the messaging features all open up to you, and they are top of the line. You can enjoy regular messaging with audio and video chat as well as instant messaging.
Unique Site Features
One of the best and most unique features of LatinAmericanCupid is the ability to translate your messages into other languages. While Google Translate is free and easy to use, having the message translate tool on the site is easier to use and more user-friendly. Since most of the site’s members don’t speak English, this tool is invaluable.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Standard – Create profile, upload photos, create customized searches, send interest to anyone, communicate with Gold/Platinum members
- Gold – All of the above, plus: Unlimited messaging and communication with other profiles (text, audio, video, Instant Messaging), ad-free browsing, invisible browsing
- Platinum – All of the above, plus: Rank above other members in searches, doubled profile space, VIP profile highlighting, platinum-exclusive search features, advanced matching algorithms, message translation
Bumble
As a second option, I recommend you sign up for Bumble. I did a full review of Bumble here.
Badoo in Costa Rica
A massive worldwide online dating site launched in 2006, Badoo is an OK option for Costa Rica. On face value, if you do a search of let’s say, women between 25 and 35 years old, you will turn up a lot of women in your search results.
The problem with Badoo though is that you will have to weed through a lot of low quality profiles in order to locate real people. The quality is just not as good as you will find on Latin American Cupid although the selection is a lot larger. Because of my issues with the quality of profiles on Badoo, I would not focus on it as a starting point for my dating search.
Badoo works on the “freemium” model, which means that it is free to sign up, but you have to pay for upgraded features. The site operates in over 180 countries, and is popular in Latin America and Europe.
If you’re interested in signing up for Badoo, check out my in-depth review of this dating site over on my reviews of the best dating sites in the Dominican Republic.
Online Dating Strategy:
- A lot of what I learned while dating online was through trial and error, planting a lot of seeds in order to get success…learning what works and doesn’t work and refining my approach along the way. You might have your own online dating strategy, and that is cool, but if you don’t and need a starting point, go and buy my e-book, Online Dating Success: How to Find Love Anywhere in the World. In the book I go into detail about how to set up a profile, what I recommend writing for your initial and follow up messages, when to ask the woman/man you’re interested in to go offline for a date, and more.
Useful Phrases in Spanish:
- Hola, ¿Cómo estás? – Hi, how are you?
- Me llamo… – My name is…
- ¿Cuál es su nombre? – What is your name?
- ¿De dónde eres? – Where are you from?
- Yo soy de los Estados Unidos. – I am from the United States.
- ¿Hablas Inglés? – Do you speak English?
- ¿Qué te gusta hacer para divertirte? – What do you like to do for fun?
- ¿De verdad? – Oh really!?
- ¿Tienes hermanos o hermanas? – Do you have any brothers or sisters?
- Tu eres bonita. – You are really stunning.
- Me gustas mucho. – I like you a lot.
- Vamos a salir este fin de semana. – Let’s go out this weekend.
- ¿Estás libre a las 7 de la tarde? – Are you free at 7 o’clock?
- Qué bueno!! Gracias. – Cool! Thank you.
- ¡Qué genial! Hasta Luego. – Great! See you later.
- Adiós – Bye.
Further Reading
Worldwide Online Dating Site Reviews: Be sure to check out my country-by-country reviews of the best online dating sites in the world.
Worldwide Moving Guide: Everything you need to know in order to plan your move to 65+ countries around the world.
Worldwide Jobs Guide: If you are interested in working in this country, be sure to check out my posts on how to find jobs in this country and other countries around the world.
Worldwide Apartments Guide: If you are interested in renting an apartment in another country, take a look at my articles on how to find an apartment in various countries around the world.
About Addison Sears-Collins
Hey! I'm Addison Sears-Collins, the founder of Visa Hunter. You can learn more about me here. Connect with me by liking my fan page on Facebook, connecting with me on Twitter, or check out my website Automatic Addison where I build robots and embedded systems.
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