1 day in San Jose
 

We have one day in San Jose and have no car. How to best spend it?

Take a morning walking tour of the city central area including Jade Museum (top of tall insurance building), Gold Museum (state of the art, bottom of Banco Nacional near the Plaza de la Cultura), Teatro Nacional (go inside--beautiful), sit outside the Gran Hotel Costa Rica (across from the teatro) and sip a delicious cappucino while people watching, walk down Avenida Central (pedestrian mall) window shopping--4 or 5 blocks to the Mercado Central, something everyone should see once!

These are just a few of my favorites. The Costa Rica Museum of Art is in Sabana Park (hope I'm not leading you astray there as we haven't been). You'd need a taxi for that one, but they are cheap. If you are staying anywhere in the Barrio Amon area, all the attractions in the first paragraph are within walking distance.

At night, always use taxis. Take a ride over to El Pueblo, a fun area, sort of like a mall--restaurants, discos, artisan shops.

You might also enjoy the Folklorico Show--haven't been because I've seen similar in Guanacaste, but I hear it is excellent. Any hotel could schedule that one for you, not sure how much the tickets, probably about $30--includes dinner and a nice view.

Have fun--it could be a busy day! :)

By the way, don't carry a backpack or purse and leave the jewelry in the hotel safety deposit box. Don't be a target--muggings happen with some frequency, even in the daytime.

HI,CHECK with GraylineCosta Rica for a tour for a day.

If you can make it to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, it's gorgeous - about an hour from the airport. We had the Peace Lodge pick us up at the airport and drive us there.

San Jose is awesome! People really give San Jose a bad rap but I thought it was great. I guess if you come from small town, USA you might be intimidated by all the people but it was a cakewalk compared to NYC. Maybe since I live in a city in a Latino neighborhood I felt pretty comfortable walking around. I’d definitely go back to San José again.

Cool places to visit are:
The Central Mercado
Museo de Oro (Gold museum) under the Plaza de la Cultura
Teatero Nacional (national theater)
Museum of Contemporary Art (my favorite!)
The open air crafts market in the Plaza de la Democracia