R17 531 Find Cheap Flights to Costa Rica

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from South Africa to Costa Rica departing on 30/1. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
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Best Costa Rica Flight Deals from South Africa

Cheapest return prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours

San José
San José2 stopsR25 573
Liberia
Liberia2 stopsR31 069

Good to know

Low season

October

High season

December

Cheapest flight

R17 531
Best time to beat the crowds (3% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (13% more expensive on average)
Flight from Johannesburg to San José

FAQs - booking Costa Rica flights

  • How long is the flight to Costa Rica?

    An average direct flight from South Africa to Costa Rica takes 37h 50m, covering a distance of 20058 km. The most popular route is Cape Town - San José with an average flight time of 23h 52m.

  • What is the cheapest flight to Costa Rica?

    The cheapest ticket to Costa Rica from South Africa found in the last 72 hours was R24 712. The most popular route is from Cape Town to San José and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was R24 712.

  • What are the most popular destinations in Costa Rica?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is San José (75% of total searches to Costa Rica). The next most popular destination is Liberia (25%).

  • How does KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a given destination and date is likely to change within 7 days, so travellers know whether to wait or book now.

See more FAQs

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Costa Rica

  • Book at least 1 week before departure in order to get a below-average price.
  • High season is considered to be July and August. The cheapest month to fly from South Africa is May.
  • Enter your preferred departure airport and travel dates into the search form above to unlock the latest Costa Rica flight deals.

Top 5 airlines flying to Costa Rica

Need help choosing which airline to fly with from South Africa to Costa Rica? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
7,8
KLMOverall score based on 1349 reviews
7,9Boarding
8,4Crew
7,2Entertainment
7,3Food
7,7Comfort
Airline reviews

Good food. Excellent crew service. Clean aircraft. Narrow seats and isle.

8,0 ExcellentAdi, Nov 2024AMS - YYZ
Read more KLM reviews

Good food. Excellent crew service. Clean aircraft. Narrow seats and isle.

I tried to upgrade to premium economy anis seat online during the checkin process. The payment didn’t work due to a technical glitch on KLM’s website. I wasn’t able to change my seat unless I called Amsterdam. Since I was in Canada and there’s a time difference this wasn’t practical. So when I arrived early to Ottawa airport my seat wasn’t available and I could only get a middle seat in premium economy which isn’t great. These middle seats are priced at the same rate as an aisle seat which makes no sense.

Seats were comfortable crew members support was very good but AVML ordered or selected by us needs a lot of improvement.

Transavia flight. Couldn't select seat or anything prior to flight. No connection with klm systems. Seats are very crammed. Extremely no frills.

Seats were nice and comfy. Crew was polite and attentive. Business class is awesome and worth the money.

Flight left a few minutes late, but that's it. I wish the seats could be wider and recline more.

The IFE was quite old, but it worked fine and the content was good. The cabin crew were excellent and the food was as also very good

The baggage service at Malpensa was the worst ever. We wanted for over an hour without any information, they broke my suitcase, and the services of the local luggage services company was below any usual services level of a KLM partner.

Good experience, just i couldn’t connect me to the wifi

Was trying to change a flight but told that Canadian and local klm systems do not interact so they could not access my booking. Overall I like klm a lot but if it was important to change flights I would be very frustrated.

We're talking about a short-haul in-country flight.. there is no confort, no food, just the bottle of water. The seats are squeezed like hell and I was in the back-end of the plane, with one spare row left for the crew and to store excess bags that could not fit in the overhead bin.. Speaking of carry-on, some passengers should be better screened as their bags were simply too big to fit in the overhead bins.. ! How can this happen, and it was an A310, with 2 columns of 3-seater rows.. There is a pseudo-Business class, which is simply a section in the front of the plane where the same seats are occupied only 2 out of 3, on each side, leaving more rooms for the passengers and their bags. That's it.

For the price of the ticket it's probably the best service in the world

Crammed like sardines into the middle of the middle 4 seat row for an 11 hour flight was a terrible experience. No attempt made to help passengers sleep by dimming lights or shutting window shades. Small mediocre meals. Not enough good movies/TV options. Hopefully we will never have to do this again.

Flight attendant served beverage to everyone during meal service and forgot about me. Had to call her several times until she realized it. Not a good service for a business class flight

Flight was cancelled due to technical problems with the aircraft. It would be nice if SWISS would invest in new aircraft; that would for sure minimize the technical issues with (old) aircrafts.

The seats had no space at all beyond the knees. The seat in-front literally reclined on your face, very uncomfortable plane. Was nothing like the normal SWISS experience. The food was okay but could be better.

Crew was wonderful, snacks were so good and quite a variety for free, food was mediocre, big selection of movies and they kept lavatories pretty clean throughout the flight

It was the first time in my life (I’m 54) that I’ve had to pay for drinks on an international flight. Very disappointing. Also, the baggage fees were very steep. I’d rather pay for everything in the price of the ticket than be repeatedly charged for add-ons.

It was unclear that additional passport control was needed before boarding. The seats were cramped and uncomfortable even for small persons. The arm rests were unable to be lifted completely out of the way and the media controls cut-out made them uncomfortable to lean on. One audio channel was not working on one of our seats.

Stuff was very helpful at checkin. Flight attendants were nice. Food wasn’t very good, I expected a little more. Economy Seats are ok. Second flight was very full and they forced us to checkin our carry on.

I did not get my baggage at my final destination..poor coordination with connecting flights with partner airlines (Saudi airways). Also the food was very mediocre.

Not a good one this time. The absence of internet without any information/notification ahead was really the unacceptable part. Also this new A350-900 has a serious legroom challenge for economy seats. It’s more like a medium-haul flight legroom configuration.

Very good crew. Food service above average. Seats very small for a 12 hours flight.

Boarding was a disaster being moved by Air France by bus to the plane. The plane should have been at the right gate.

They lost my baggage and I still have not got it back. Disgrace

They lost my lauggage and I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT. NO ONE IS HELPING! PLEASE HELP FIND MY LOST LAUGGAGE

A disaster. Air France is a real joke. They overcharge us customers for absolutely nothing. Service was very poor, food was mediocre, entertainment non existent, etc. We paid thousands of dollars for our business class tickets and then we were told in Paris we could not access its lounge. Really Air France ? Congratulations on irritating your customers to the sky high level and ensuring we will do everything in our power to discourage others to travel with you.

They again did not offer any functioning WiFi in the transatlantic crossing.

Flight was late over a hour just like the first one. WiFi was down.

I paid 3 this and dollars for two tickets. No food, minimum drink, confused service and very uncomfortable sear. There was zero difference between busy ness and tourist class. I received a pathetic apology

The flying experience was great. The flight was on time with no boarding issues during a peak travel period. The short cut baggage drop and process was not smooth and efficient at Dulles.

Never nice, United Express partners always do an amazing job.

It was fine. The flight attendant appeared to be in a bad mood but everything was fine.

United ground crew and pilots are friendly. The in-flight staff (flight attendants) are the worst in the world. Multiple trips, always unpleasant, combative, use implicit threats to not allow for a discussion on their decision. Authoritarian. This seems to stem from an internal corporate wide policy as I doubt that United is intentionally searching for people that are not fit for customer facing positions. I will not fly United again. Good luck fixing your business

United needs to figure out its Economy PLUS standards; its better than economy but that's not saying much. It seems like United stripped away all the basics for an international flight (such as In Seat entertainment) and repackaged some of them as plus. Would not fly United internationally again.

Every Single leg of our trip was delayed signifigantly... including a new flight we had to take because we missed our connection flight due to delays.

IT WAS A LONG TIME SINCE THE LAST TIME I TRAVELED. I THOUGHT I WAS TO BE LOST BUT EVERYONE WAS PRETTY NICE WITH ME AND MADE MY EXPERIENCE NICE. THANKS

Everyone on board was great. It was just super late and we missed our connection in Frankfurt, and had to power through jet lag while we waited 4 hours in the terminal. My family missed a big welcome dinner in Berlin.

-The cabin was ice cold - When we arrived in Houston there was no gate available -We had to wait 90 minutes for our luggage to arrive.. In the future I will avoid flying with Air Canada at at costs

My window shade didn’t work. So I missed coming into my city. ☹️

They lost my baggage and still waiting an update when I can receive it

Although it was an overnight flight, the crew could’ve have made more refreshment passes.

All and it was good . But no one woke me when meals came around . Please have a don’t not disturb sign if you opted for that . Left very hungry missing all meals .

It was good but I wished if they could have sign do not disturb if we did not wanted any meals . I was tired and slept through the entire flight and woke up just before landing .being hungry Too late to ask for something to eat before exiting the flight . Left feeling hunger 🙁

The crew is extremely nice, genuine and just pleasant to be around. On multiple flights, I or other passengers had interactions with the crew that were above and beyond what is generally accepted from other airlines. I WILL fly BA whenever available from now on.

I wasn't able to request a special meal on the on line check in. I informed the cabin crew and they went out of their way to find foods I could eat. I am very grateful.

Our first flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on a later flight. Our second flight was delayed by 3 hours but nobody told us anything. We were just expected to wait at the gate. No notice or information. We ended up missing our next flight from London but because we booked separately British Airways won’t do anything about it even though we booked our flights with more than a 7 hour gap. We had to then rebook new flights two days later and stay longer in London.

Horrible. I bought a flight with British airlines from Amsterdam to Orlando via London. Less than a day they changed my flight to London so I had to fly to London city airport and then find my way to Gatwick for my connecting flight. It was very costly

The flight was not too long, so entertainment and food were not applicable, but the crew was really nice and kind. The flights left 30 minutes late but either made up the lost time or it was calculated into the flight time, which was very important for people who connected to another flight at that huge airport.

Staff member at boarding gate was rude, and more than once!

Book Cheap Costa Rica Plane Tickets

Recent return flight deals

2/2Sun
2 stopsUnited Airlines
28h 16mJNB-SJO
9/2Sun
2 stopsUnited Airlines
40h 45mSJO-JNB
R25 573
3/2Mon
2 stopsUnited Airlines
28h 39mJNB-LIR
10/2Mon
2 stopsUnited Airlines
40h 40mLIR-JNB
R31 069
10/3Mon
2 stopsKLM
27h 31mCPT-SJO
14/3Fri
1 stopKLM
41h 35mSJO-CPT
R47 024
10/3Mon
2 stops
27h 31mCPT-SJO
14/3Fri
2 stops
65h 55mSJO-CPT
R47 281

Search by stops

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Recent one-way flight deals

30/1Thu
2 stops
34h 40mJNB-SJO
R17 531
2/2Sun
2 stopsBritish Airways
30h 35mJNB-SJO
R18 136
2/2Sun
1 stopKLM
26h 30mJNB-SJO
R19 198
2/2Sun
3 stops
50h 10mJNB-SJO
R19 546
30/1Thu
1 stopKLM
26h 30mJNB-SJO
R22 953
29/1Wed
3 stops
53h 10mJNB-SJO
R32 589
1/2Sat
3 stops
52h 10mJNB-SJO
R35 209

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Last minute flights to Costa Rica

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

24/12Tue
multi-stopUnited Airlines
32h 18mJNB-SJO
31/12Tue
multi-stopUnited Airlines
51h 55mSJO-JNB
R30 134
24/12Tue
multi-stopLufthansa
36h 25mJNB-SJO
31/12Tue
multi-stopLufthansa
28h 50mSJO-JNB
R31 838
24/12Tue
multi-stop
26h 10mJNB-SJO
31/12Tue
multi-stop
28h 50mSJO-JNB
R33 120

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Everything you need to know for your flight to Costa Rica

Cabin class types available on flights to Costa Rica

Cabin classes available on flights to Costa Rica. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.

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