This article analyzes the process that Costa Rica has followed to strengthen its municipalities, granting them political, administrative and financial autonomy through a series of reforms in the period 1994-2023. As a starting point, the general characteristics of the municipal regime in Costa Rica are presented. Then, it examines how the process of local democracy developed as a result of the approval in 1998 of Law No. 7794, of a new Municipal Code, which introduces fundamental political changes such as the direct election of municipal authorities and the creation of several instruments of local democracy. Other aspects analyzed are the guarantee of local autonomy, municipal powers, the characteristics of intermunicipal associations, sources of local financing, and innovation in local management.