so im heading to Costa Rica for three weeks and obviously bringing the mini 3. ive been reading a bunch of conflicting stuff online about whether you need permits or not and honestly i cant figure out which info is even current. some sites say you need to register with DGAC, others say tourists are fine under a certain weight. my mini 3 is under 250g so hoping that helps but still not sure.

anyone actually flown there recently and dealt with the whole permit thing? also curious about national parks because thats mostly where ill be. guessing those are a no-fly zone but figured id ask.

yeah national parks are basically off limits, at least the big ones like Manuel Antonio and Corcovado. ranger literally walked up to me when i had my mavic air 2 out at the trailhead, didnt even get to launch. he was cool about it but yeah, hard no. beaches outside park boundaries were totally fine though, flew at playa santa teresa for like 4 days with zero issues.

the sub-250g thing does seem to matter less hassle-wise in practice even if the rules on paper arent totally clear. just dont fly near the airports obviously, theres a lot of small regional ones scattered around.

just came back from there actually. honestly i just kept it low key and didnt fly anywhere that looked like it might be a problem. nobody said anything to me the whole trip. that said i was mostly in rural areas not near any tourist hotspots so maybe that made it easier. the scenery is insane btw, worth every bit of the hassle figuring out the rules.