Having changed in recent years, the official Costa Rican Calendar still preserves most of its traditionally Catholic events as primary holidays. Most government controlled entities will be closed and few services are to be relied upon during some of them. Following you’ll find a list of the most relevant ones:

January 1^st: New Year’s Eve. All Public and Private entities will remain closed.

Holy Week(Easter): varies according to the Catholic Calendar, Holy Thursdays and Fridays are mandatory holidays, most services wont operate during these two days.

March 19^th: Saint Joseph’s Day, patron saint of the city of San Jose, capital of Costa Rica. No changes in public services.

April  11^th: Juan Santamaria Day; celebrates the triumph of the Costa Rican army over the invading forces of William Walker. Businesses remain open during this day.

May 1^st: Labour day, No private or governmental offices should be expected to open.

July 25st: Guanacaste Day; commemorative of the joining of the Guanacaste province to the young republic of Costa Rica. No changes to the working schedule should be expected.

August 2^nd: Virgen de los Angeles Day, celebrates the patron saint of Costa Rica. Many services are suspended and nationwide pilgrimage to Cartago will block many main roads to the East of the Valley.

August 15^th: Mothers Day.

September 15^th: Independence Day, Parades take over pretty over every town in the country. All services and operations are suspended.

October 12^th: Columbus Day, nationally known as “Dia de la Raza”.

December 25^th: Christmas Day, as with most other Christian countries all services are suspended.