Costa Rica receives an estimated 50,000 medical tourists a year, and the reason is not only price. It is a short flight from most of the United States, the private medical infrastructure is genuinely modern, and a patient can be seen, tested and treated inside a few days rather than a few months.
Getting here
Direct flights reach San José's Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) from Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and New York, among others. Our clinic is in Barrio Don Bosco, San José. Travel time from the airport varies with traffic; check current directions and allow a buffer before your appointment.
When choosing accommodation, check the route to the clinic rather than assuming every hotel in the San José area is nearby. Our team can provide the current location and general travel guidance before your visit.
What the visit involves
Most programs follow the same shape. Bloodwork and a medical intake come first, either completed before you fly or done on arrival. Results are reviewed with the physician in person, and treatment is prescribed against them. For hormone or weight-loss therapy, the in-clinic portion is usually short, a day or two, and the rest is medication you take home.
Patients doing procedural treatments, PRP or shockwave among them, should plan for a course rather than a single appointment, and it is worth asking how many sessions before booking flights.
After you fly home
The part that surprises people is that the relationship does not end at the airport. Follow-up consultations run by secure telemedicine, prescriptions are planned around your travel, and repeat testing can usually be done where you live and reviewed here.
Worth knowing before you book
Bring your existing medication list and any recent labs; they change what needs retesting. Give yourself a buffer day before flying home rather than scheduling treatment for the morning of your flight. And ask, in writing, what is and is not included in any figure you are quoted. A good clinic will have no difficulty answering that.
