Updated June 16,  2022

If you’re planning to vacation here, you may be wondering what are the best women’s shoes to wear in Costa Rica. Because of the heat and humidity in the coastal areas, your favorite go-to footwear might not be as practical and comfortable as it usually is.

In fact, it could be downright painful to wear the wrong shoes. Particularly if you get them wet because drying them out again is not always an easy task.

Since coming to Costa Rica, I wear a much different kind of shoe than I typically wore growing up in Washington State. So, to help you take the guesswork out of it, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite shoes to wear in Costa Rica.

This way, when you come to Costa Rica, your feet will be happy and not distract you from all the fun you’re having!

Disclaimer: There may be affiliate links in this post. I only promote products or services that I have used and liked or have personal knowledge about. That means, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase something through one of those links, I will receive a compensation (thank you, I appreciate it!). Check out more info here on my disclaimer.

Sanuk Yoga Mat Sandals

Costa Rica is a small country, but she packs a big punch when it comes to wildlife and nature. The country accounts for 0.03% of the landmass on earth, but boasts a whopping 6% of the world’s biodiversity!

Those are small numbers so let me do the math for you so it will sink in better. Let’s say that biodiversity is spread evenly across the earth so that 1% of landmass = 1% of biodiversity. It’s not, but this is for illustrative purposes. Using that idea, Costa Rica has 200 times its share of biodiversity!

Is that sinking in a little better? …I thought so. 🙂

In other words, nature is Costa Rica’s claim to fame and she doesn’t disappoint. It’s no wonder that ecotourism is so popular here.

Saving the Environment, One Shoe at a Time

By now you may be thinking…”I thought we were gonna talk about shoes to wear in Costa Rica?” Don’t worry, we are. My point with this is that many people come to Costa Rica looking for an eco-vacation. Sanuk sandals may be the best women’s shoes to wear in Costa Rica for that purpose. Here’s why.

Sanuk is a company that started out looking for an eco-friendly way to make awesome shoes. They make shoes out of everything from recycled inner tubes to indoor-outdoor carpet. They’ve been pretty innovative and have made quite a name for themselves.

The ones I bought and am recommending are made from recycled yoga mats. You know how yoga mats are slightly squishy under your bare feet, but not too much? That’s what these flip flops feel like walking around all day. My feet don’t get sore after standing for a long time and they’re super light and comfortable.

They’re called the Yoga Sling 2. They have a strap that runs from in between your toe to around your heel. And another one that goes over the top of your foot. It makes them more difficult to put on than regular flip flops, but you don’t get the annoying slap-slap-slap as you walk. They also feel more secure and you don’t have to worry about them slipping off your feet.

With the heat and humidity here in Quepos, flip-flops are an excellent choice. I live in them pretty much because anything else is just too hot. These Sanuk sandals are a nice hybrid, offering a comfortable cushion for your foot without being a heavy, hot, enclosed shoe.

Skechers Go Step Lite

I know some people just can’t do sandals, especially flip-flops. My dad is one of those. He can’t stand having the strap between his toes at all. You also may require a bit more support than any pair of sandals can reasonably offer.

If that’s the case, I recommend Skechers Go Step Lite. They have a Goga Max cushioned footbed that makes it feel like you’re walking on a cloud. They slip on, so they’re easy to get on and off, and they’re fairly light for the type of shoe they are.

You can easily wear them with or without socks and they don’t get super hot. They get a little hot but keep in mind, any type of closed shoe will get hot after a bit in Quepos. 

All in all, they’re some great shoes to wear in Costa Rica. They’re comfortable and will keep your feet happy as you trek around seeing all the beautiful sights.

Size note: They do tend to be a bit snug. I usually wear a 7 or 7.5 womens. I got the 7.5 and they’re still a tiny bit snug. Not enough to be uncomfortable, but if I forget to clip my toenails they get sore after a bit from the pressure.

Keen’s Whisper Sandal

You may have seen in my bio that I found my passion for photography when I started working as a zipline photographer. Since I pretty much only had flip flops at the time, I needed some kind of shoe that would reliably stay on my feet while zipping above the trees. (I hadn’t bought my non-slip barefoot shoes yet).

Since there can be a lot of people crammed together on a platform, the risk of being stepped on is pretty high. So I needed a shoe that would offer a bit of protection for my toes. But yet I still wanted something with good ventilation. I also needed something that would dry semi-quickly because we ziplined even in the rain.

I settled on the Keen’s Whisper Sandal and they turned out to be great for what I needed. The quality of these sandals is impressive, in my opinion. I used them pretty much daily for almost 2 years and they still look new (other than being a bit faded and dirty).

If you can’t quite make the jump to barefoot shoes, these are great shoes to wear in Costa Rica for hiking and many other activities. People also won’t look at you funny as you walk down the street. 😉

Tip: I found that they run a bit big. I normally wear 7 or 7.5 women’s shoe size. Since I was buying online, I went with 7.5 just in case. They are a touch too big for me and sometimes I trip over roots and stuff because of that. That is my only complaint with them, though, and obviously not a defect in the shoe at all.

Vibram’s Five-Finger Barefoot Shoes

I am not a big fan of wearing shoes in general. I like the free feeling of not having my feet encased in something.

That’s one benefit to living in Costa Rica as compared to Washington. Much of the year in Washington it’s too cold to wear flip-flops or sandals.

But, for some activities actual shoes are necessary.

One of these activities is running. I’m not a big runner in general, but a few years ago I started running on occasion for exercise. A big problem I had was that when I ran regularly my knees and hips would hurt. I was starting to develop some pretty painful shin splints too. Plus, I really wasn’t a fan of how my feet felt in running shoes.

Barefoot Running

So I started doing some research and learned about proper running form and foot pronation. What I learned was that many running shoes, yep even the expensive ones, can cause your foot to move incorrectly.

They tend to force you to run with the heel landing first. This sends a shock up your leg and can lead to knee, hip, and lower back pain. You’re supposed to run with the toe striking first, which allows for enough give that you don’t send a shock up your leg. When I tried to focus on running like this, I found that my shoes wouldn’t let me.

During my research, I discovered Vibram’s Barefoot Shoes. The premise is to provide a shoe that protects your foot, yet allows your foot to move as God designed it to. So I found the most inexpensive pair I could find to try them out.

The company recommends following their guide to getting started with barefoot running shoes. If you’ve always run in shoes it takes a little to re-accustom your muscles to running correctly.

They don’t recommend running 6 miles in them cold turkey. That’s what I did and it worked for me, but I have run indoors and exercised barefoot for much of my life. I had a bit of soreness in my calves because now I was running on my toes but that was it. Within a few days, my knees and hips stopped hurting and my shin splints disappeared, never to return.

Running in barefoot shoes is SO incredibly comfortable, I haven’t run in anything else since. I don’t ever plan to go back to running in so-called running shoes.

My Recommendation

The inexpensive pair I bought was pretty slippery because they didn’t have much grip on the bottom. When I moved to Costa Rica I started doing more trail running and hiking. However, there’s a lot of mud in the rainforest so I found the shoes to be impractical and a bit dangerous.

I didn’t want to give up the comfort of barefoot shoes, though. So this led me to buy the Vibrams Five Fingers Spyridon barefoot running shoe. Note: the exact version of the shoe that I bought appears to no longer be available so I’ve included the link to their updated version.

They’re not the prettiest shoe that Vibram makes, but they have tons of tread and are perfect for tromping around in the rainforest. If a ton of tread isn’t as big of a concern for you, check out some of Vibram’s other, more feminine barefoot shoe styles. Even if they get wet, they’re still comfortable and have good grip so they make great water shoes.

My FAVORITE Costa Rica Shoes EVER!

I first wrote this post back in 2018 so now I’m stepping back in to bring you the most current news on the best women’s shoes to wear in Costa Rica. I ran across a new kind of shoe that has absolutely taken my breath away! 

I’ve left the rest of the original article here so you can read about different types of shoes depending on your priorities. But I’m going to tell you right now about my all-time favorite shoes for any outdoor activity. 

A New Kind of Barefoot Shoe

I loved my Vibrams barefoot shoes but the individual toe thing was always a little weird (especially for my husband). He also has really fat toes so it was always a wrestling match to get them on his feet. In my search to find him something similar, I ran across a different type of barefoot shoe on Amazon that comes with a box toe. 

The women’s version is the Joomra women’s minimalist trail running barefoot shoes. After I saw his, I decided to get myself a pair and I absolutely fell in love. These shoes are awesome! To me they feel like walking around on a cloud, they are so comfortable. 

They are super lightweight, yet have a ton of traction on the bottom. This makes them ideal for hiking, trudging through rivers, running, and just about anything else you might be doing outdoors in Costa Rica. If they get wet, just leave them out in the sun and they dry pretty quickly.

I think these are seriously the only pair of shoes I’ve ever bought in my life that I don’t have a single complaint about.

Best Women’s Shoes to Wear in Costa Rica

So hopefully this gives you an idea of the best women’s shoes to wear in Costa Rica for you. Your needs will vary depending on the activities you want to do, and how stylish you want to be.

I would wear my barefoot shoes everywhere, but they’re a little impractical with a dress 😉 Sanuk’s Yoga Sandals, however, look great and are also super comfortable.

If you can’t tell by now I’m all about comfortable shoes. It’s rare that I wear high heels or any shoe that makes my foot hurt.

Costa Ricans are all about fashion and you’ll see Ticas walking around in high heels or wedges. I honestly don’t know how they do it given the sad state of most of the sidewalks in Quepos.

So if you want to use footwear like a local, you’ll have to look somewhere else for advice. But if you want the most comfortable shoes to wear in Costa Rica, go with one of my suggestions here.

Until next time…

Cara