San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica — a city of 340,000 in the metropolitan area (Greater San José has 1.4 million, roughly one-third of Costa Rica's entire population of 5.2 million) situated at 1,170 m altitude in the Central Valley between the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Talamanca mountain ranges. San José is the primary gateway to Costa Rica — the country that has become the global model for ecotourism, conservation and sustainable development: 26% of Costa Rica's territory is protected in national parks and reserves (the highest percentage of protected land of any country in the Americas); the country abolished its military in 1948 (the only country in the Americas to have done so constitutionally); it runs on 99% renewable electricity (mostly hydro and geothermal); and it has the most biodiverse territory per square kilometre of any country on Earth (500,000 species in 51,000 km² — 5% of the world's biodiversity in 0.03% of its land area; including 500,000 species, 1,250 butterfly species, 900 bird species, 220 reptile species and 35,000 insect species). San José itself is a transit city for most visitors — the majority spend 1 night before heading to Arenal (the 1,670 m active volcano with continuous low-level eruption visible from 30 km), Manuel Antonio (beach + rainforest national park on the Pacific coast), the Osa Peninsula (the most biodiverse place on Earth according to National Geographic), Monteverde (the cloud forest reserve founded by Alabama Quakers in 1951), or the Tortuguero canals (the Atlantic coast sea turtle nesting ground). For visitors who spend time in San José, the city has a genuine character — the Barrio Amón colonial architecture, the Central Market, the best coffee in Central America, and the National Museum in a former army barracks.
Barrio Amón (the historic neighbourhood north of the Parque Morazán, developed by coffee and banana export elite families 1890s-1940s) is the finest Victorian and Art Nouveau residential neighbourhood in Central America — the mansions of the coffee barons (the yellow Edificio Metálico, 1892 — a prefabricated metal school building imported from Belgium; the Castillo del Moro mansion; the Casa Amarilla — the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry in a former US Embassy villa; the Chalet Duchamp with its distinctive Loire Valley chateau style) display the wealth of the Costa Rican agro-export era in tropical decay and some careful restoration; the Barrio Amón walking route passes 15+ architectural gems.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Mercado Central de San José (the covered market, 1880, one block north of the Plaza de la Cultura — a full city block of covered market stalls operating since 1880) is the sensory heart of San José — the soda (traditional Costa Rican casual restaurant) stalls inside the market serve gallo pinto (the national breakfast dish: black beans and white rice cooked together with Salsa Lizano and onion, served with eggs, cheese, sour cream and plantain — the most eaten dish in Costa Rica, eaten at any time of day), the fresh fruit and vegetable stalls display the tropical biodiversity (guanabana, maranon, cas, nance, mamón chino, yuca, chayote), and the flower market and the spice stalls.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (in the Bellavista Fortress, 1917 — the military barracks where José Figueres Ferrer declared the abolition of the Costa Rican army on December 1, 1948, handing the keys of the barracks to the Minister of Education; the bullet holes from the brief 1948 civil war are visible on the walls; the museum converted the fortress into a natural history, archaeology and colonial history museum) has the most important pre-Columbian gold collection in Central America (the Diquís gold figures, the stone spheres from the Diquís Delta — the mysterious polished granite spheres of perfect roundness, 1.8 m diameter, made by the Chiriquí culture 600-1000 AD for unknown purposes).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica (the National Theatre, 1897 — the most important Neoclassical building in Central America; funded by a tax on every bag of coffee exported by the coffee producers who insisted Costa Rica needed a proper opera house; the allegorical ceiling painting in the lobby showing Coffee and Banana harvesting (which appears on the 5-colón note) was painted in Italy; the theatre has the finest Baroque interior in Central America) and the Café del Teatro (the coffee bar in the theatre lobby, one of the finest coffees in the country — Costa Rican coffee is among the top 5 in the world; the Tarrazú and Pérez Zeledón growing regions produce the finest Arabica in Central America).
Poás Volcano (2,708 m, 37 km north of San José — the most visited national park in Costa Rica; the summit crater contains the largest geyser-type acid volcanic lake in the world, 1.5 km diameter, pH 0 sulfuric acid, temperature 40-50°C, constantly bubbling and occasionally erupting sulphur gas columns; the crater is ringed by the cloud forest that grows up to the rim; the views from the crater viewpoint — when fog-free, which is most reliable before 10am — are the most dramatic volcano views in Central America; NOTE: the crater access is subject to closures after major eruptions — check ICT status before visiting).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLa Paz Waterfall Gardens (in the Poas Volcano national park area, on the La Paz River, 50 km north of San José) has five successive waterfalls (the La Paz, Encantada, Magia Blanca, Escondida and Templo waterfalls on a 3.5 km trail through cloud forest) plus the largest butterfly garden in the world (700+ species), the hummingbird gallery (30+ species), the jaguar and puma sanctuary, the serpentarium and the frog pond — a private wildlife rescue facility and tourism complex that gives the most concentrated Costa Rican biodiversity experience in one location.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Sarapiquí River valley (on the Atlantic slope of the Cordillera Central, 70 km north of San José) is the finest accessible rainforest experience within a day trip of the capital — the Río Sarapiquí boat safari (2 hrs on the river, watching for river otters, caimans, kingfishers, toucans, Jesus Christ lizards walking on water, and the spider, howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys in the riverside trees) and the Tirimbina Rainforest Centre (the suspension bridge trail over the Sarapiquí gorge, the bat cave, the chocolate tour showing cacao tree-to-bar process, and the poison dart frog observation boardwalk).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe casado (the standard Costa Rican lunch/dinner plate: rice, black beans, ensalada, platano maduro — fried sweet plantain — and your choice of pollo asado, carne en salsa, pescado or vegetariano; it is the set meal of every Costa Rican home and soda; the name comes from "married" — the combination of elements that "marry" on the plate); chicharrón (fried pork skin, the Costa Rican bar snack); and guaro (the Costa Rican sugarcane-based spirit, the base of the guaro sour and the classic national drink) at the traditional La Cantina de la Sabana or the Central Market sodas.
Arenal Volcano (1,670 m, 120 km northwest of San José — the most active volcano in Costa Rica for the second half of the 20th century; the 1968 eruption killed 87 people and destroyed 3 villages; after a period of dormancy since 2010, low-level activity continues; on clear days — best early morning before cloud cover — the perfectly conical symmetrical silhouette with its active fumaroles and occasional lava flow glows is the iconic Central American volcano image); the Arenal National Park trail (the Heliconias trail through the 1968 lava fields where secondary forest is slowly reclaiming the basalt) and the Arenal hanging bridges canopy walk.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Tabacón Grand Thermal Resort (next to the Arenal Volcano National Park) has the finest natural volcanic hot springs in Central America — the Tabacón river is naturally heated to 38-40°C by the Arenal geothermal system; the resort has developed 18 pools along the river under the rainforest canopy, with the water cooling as it flows downstream (the hottest pools closest to the volcano source); the Balneario Los Termales public hot spring (a fraction of the Tabacón price) is adjacent and uses the same naturally heated water; howler monkeys in the surrounding trees.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLake Arenal (the largest lake in Costa Rica, created by a dam in 1979; 85 km² surrounded by the Arenal Volcano on the east and the Tilaran mountain range on the west — the wind gap between the Caribbean and Pacific sides of Costa Rica funnels consistent winds across the lake, making it one of the best windsurfing and kitesurfing destinations in the Americas; the western shore near Tilaran is the designated sports area; the eastern shore near the dam is the wildlife watching area — jabiru storks, Snail Kites, Roseate Spoonbills and Anhinga birds in the flooded forest margins).
The return from Arenal to San José via the Palmito pass (the mountain road across the Cordillera Tilarán — the road passes through cloud forest, bamboo groves and the coffee highlands of Naranjo and Sarchí; the Sarchí craft village, 25 km northwest of San José, is the home of the Costa Rican ox-cart (carreta) tradition: the hand-painted wooden ox-carts with their geometric mandala patterns in traditional red, blue, yellow and black are the national craft symbol; UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 2005; the Fábrica de Carretas Eloy Alfaro shows the painting process).