Costa Rica’s Country Codes
- Telephone: +506
- 2 Letter: CR
- 3 Letter: CRI
- ISO 3116-1 Numeric: 188
- ISO 3116-2: CR
- Internet TLD: .cr
- ICAO Airport Code: MR
- Maritime Identification Digits: 321
- Emoji Flag: U+1F1E8 U+1F1F7
- Official Name: The Republic of Costa Rica
Calling to Costa Rica
- A leading '+' in the phone number means 'dial your country's exit code'.
- Calling from a mobile phone: dial from on the country where you're currently located.
- Calling from a VoIP or satellite phone: dial from on the country where the phone is registered.
… to a mobile (cellular) phone or text (sms)
Use the same call sequence.
Mobile phone numbers begin with ‘5’, ‘6’, ‘7’, and ‘8’.
When calling a mobile phone user, dial to the country where the mobile phone is registered, regardless of where they are roaming.
… to a VoIP phone
Use the same call sequence.
VoIP phone numbers begin with ‘4’. Some Costa Rican VoIP numbers cannot receive international calls.
When calling a VoIP phone user, dial to the country where the VoIP phone is registered, regardless of where they are roaming.
… to a satellite phone
Costa Rica does not have a country-specific satellite phone system.
Most satellite phones operate on a special country code – calls to these satellite phones follow their call sequence.
… sending a fax
Use the same call sequence.
Calling within Costa Rica (domestic dialing)
Dial the entire eight-digit phone number for all calls within Costa Rica.
There is no trunk prefix dialed when calling within Costa Rica.
| eight digits |
| local phone number |
Costa Rican phone numbers explained
Number details
Costa Rican phone numbers are eight digits.
The first digit signifies whether the phone number is a fixed line (landline) or mobile phone. Fixed-line phone numbers begin with ‘2’.
The second digit of a landline phone number represents a geographic part of the country.
VoIP phone numbers begin with ‘4’. Some VoIP phone numbers are not available from outside Costa Rica.
Mobile numbers begin with digits ‘5’, ‘6’, 7′, and ‘8’. Each starting number represents a different mobile phone carrier.
An example of a Costa Rican phone number
The Costa Rica Marriot Hotel lists its phone number in San Jose as 506-2298 0000.
Number explanation
| 506 | 2 | 2 | 98 0000 |
| country code for Costa Rica | signifies a land-line (fixed line) telephone number | geographic (area) code for the San Jose area | local phone number within San Jose |
Local example – calling from another location in San Jose, Costa Rica
Dial all eight digits of the local phone number for all calls within Costa Rica.
| 2 | 2 | 98 0000 |
| signifies a land-line (fixed line) telephone number | geographic (area) code for the San Jose area | local phone number within San Jose |
Long distance example – calling from Liberia, Costa Rica (on the other side of the country)
Dial all eight digits of the local phone number for all calls within Costa Rica.
| 2 | 2 | 98 0000 |
| signifies a land-line (fixed line) telephone number | geographic (area) code for the San Jose area | local phone number within San Jose |
International example – calling from outside Costa Rica
To call from outside Costa Rica, dial the exit code of the country the call is dialed from, followed by Costa Rica’s country code of ‘506’, followed by the local phone number.
[fiveSectionCall firstone=”exit code” firsttwo=”exit code of the country the call is dialed from” secondone=”506″ secondtwo=”country code for Costa Rica” thirdone=”2″ thirdtwo=”signifies a land-line (fixed line) telephone number” fourthone=”2″ fourthtwo=”geographic (area) code for the San Jose area” fifthone=”98 0000″ fifthtwo=”local phone number within San Jose”]
Calling from Costa Rica
’00’ is used as an exit code when dialing an international phone call from Costa Rica.
Sources and more resources
- Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones – Costa Rica’s telephone systems regulator.
- ITU (International Telecommunications Union) – United Nations specialized agency for information and communications technologies.
- International Telecommunications Union – DIALLING PROCEDURES (INTERNATIONAL PREFIX, NATIONAL (TRUNK) PREFIX AND NATIONAL (SIGNIFICANT) NUMBER) (IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITU-T RECOMMENDATION E.164 (11/2010)) – A collection of dialing procedures for all countries and regions of the world. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- International Telecommunications Union – Costa Rica (Country code +506) National Numbering Plan – Details of Costa Rica’s telephone numbering plan as submitted to the ITU. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- Wikipedia – Telephone numbers in Costa Rica – Wikipedia entry for telephone number data for Costa Rica. Includes specific number ranges for each city as well as detail on calling procedures.
- BT – The Phonebook – Costa Rica – Entry for Costa Rica in the British Telecom International directory.