Costa Rica Travel Forum

Okay. I am accustomed to the humidity in Baltimore. However, a visit to the rainforest in the Baltimore Aquarium had the breath sucked out of me! I made an abrupt turnabout and never went back. Could I expect this same kind of "take your breath away" humidity in Costa Rica?

Also, I have difficulty breathing in elevations above 4000 ft. Would Costa Rica fall into this category?

I committed myself to a nine day vacation in January and am beginning to wonder if I will be able to stand the climate. I CAN, to a certain degree, adapt when necessary. However, I don't necessarily want to torture myself! I just want to go away and have fun.

The only places where you might feel a suffocating humidity is in the jungles at sea level- Tortuguero, Limon for example. At the higher elevations (San Jose is about 3800 ft above sea level) it is still humid but the temperatures are much lower. In fact the Central Plateau is sometimes nicknamed the "Land of Eternal Spring" with high temps rarely going above 80 degrees.
But even when you're at sea level on the coast the ocean and the sea breezes tend to moderate the temps and it's not as bad as the inland jungle areas. Hope this helps.

I think you might be better off staying at home

I think you won't have any problems here with humidity and altitude. I am from Pensacola, Florida, and Costa Rica is quite refreshing compared to that. Even in the jungles of Manzanillo, south of Limon on the Caribbean. There is humidity, but nothing compared to where I live.
We are now on the Pacific coast and it is much different here. There is much less humidity and a constant breeze. In the mornings, it is almost chilly.
You will do fine : )

Temperatures and humidy will vary between different destinations as will elevation. Are you going to the mountains or the coast? of course in the mountains there will be elevation. Monteverde for instance is higher elevation but of course then it is much cooler (highs in the 50's and 60's) so might be easier to breathe. It is unusual that 4000 feet would affect your breathing. Usually it takes higher elevation than that. Another possibly humid location would be the Osa Penninsula.