Thank you for your time

While US$ will be accepted by businesses linked to tourists, smaller local businesses like grocery stores, soda, etc will prefer getting local currency i.e. colones.

IMO it is a sign of respect to use local currency when travelling abroad. Go to the bank, exchange your dollars and use colones. Otherwise they will have to do the same.

I largely agree with Xelas, though in my limited experience it may depend a bit on the nature and location of most of your spending.

We spent mostly colones - they should be easily obtainable throughout your stay from ATMs, though may require a bit of planning for certain remote locations.

We tried to keep much of our visit at least slighly off the most beaten path, and as he said, smaller and more local-oriented businesses are doing their business in colones. They will mostly accept $US, but you are then forcing them to recalculate your bill into $US, calculate your change back to the colones they will most likely be giving you back, then exchange the money at some point.

I did notice a few times, with larger vendors who work more or less exclusively with tourists, that things were priced in $US and they seemed almost more practiced transacting in dollars than colones. So if one expects to keep to the most tourist-heavy establishments during their visit, dollars would probably be OK.

Perhaps best idea is to use your ATM card to withdraw money while you're there. When I was there many machines would give you the choice of withdrawing colones or $US, so you don't need to fly in with, and carry, and decide whether to exchange, a huge pile of cash. Bring some dollars along, withdraw some colones when you arrive, and just pay your tabs as billed (i.e. a restaurant that has a menu priced in colones and gives you a bill in colones, pay colones...and vice versa for $US). As your dollars or colones run low, get more of that currency from the ATM. Best and safest not to carry a whole vacation's worth of cash around with you anyway, no matter where you are in the world.

As always, your mileage may vary. Have a great trip!

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Not sure why the need to nitpick this particular instance, as this forum is full of posts which respond to the original questioner, but provide additional information or depth beyond "yes" or "no". The original poster may appreciate the added info or may not, as may other folks who are planning a trip and, as I did for my planning, use the search function and read previous exchanges for information as much as possible before posting new asks. If you disagree with or think some info provided is wrong or unwise, by all means point it out. But I don't get where answers that are responsive to the original subject need snippy 'protocol police' replies.

It is unclear from the OP question, but there is at least an implication that they plan to or think they need to bring all their money with them, like they're going to Antarctica or Mars or something. There are plenty of ppl who don't do a lot of research, who harbor this kind of thinking. I don't feel like it is irrelevant - indeed that it is a favor - to point out to anyone who might be thinking that way, that doing so is taking a small, but real, risk that is totally unnecessary.

"Yes, you can bring a big brick of $20s with you to CR and get by. No, I would not suggest doing it exactly that way, and here are the reasons why....." What is wrong with this?

Nothing is wrong with it.

Missed post #5, but Oliver, you did a great job by adding valuable pieces of information. People can read it (if wise) or skip it (not so wise) and then they can decide as they will. Carry on, amigo!