It started with a hostel receptionist and a hand-drawn map.
I landed in San José with a backpack and no real plan. The receptionist handed me a photocopied map with a dozen handwritten spots — waterfalls, a volcanic crater, a hidden beach only accessible on foot. There was no app for that. Every travel app showed me the same five tourist attractions that charged $40 at the door.
I spent three weeks in Costa Rica and found the best places by asking locals, getting lost, and following unpaved roads. Then I thought: what if I just built the thing I wished I had? No account, no paywall, no sponsored listings. Just the places that are actually worth your time — and the hostels closest to each one.
Curated spots, not tourist traps
Every place in the app was manually selected. Waterfalls, volcanoes, beaches, cloud forests, and towns worth a detour.
Hostels discovered near each place
The app finds accommodations within a few kilometers of every spot automatically. No need to cross-reference a separate app.
Works offline
Download your places and hostel lists before heading into the mountains. The app keeps working without signal.
Your favorites, your plan
Save places you want to visit and build a custom trip plan. Everything stays on your phone.
Open in Maps instantly
Tap any place or hostel and open directions in Apple Maps or Google Maps with one tap — no fumbling around.
No account, no tracking
Zero registration, zero analytics, zero ads. Your location never leaves the device. Download it, use it, done.
100% free. Forever.
Costa Rica Backpackers has no subscription, no In-App Purchases, no ads, no paywall. You download it, you use it, you keep it.
