We are travelling to Manuel Antonio for 5 nights and spending our last night in San Jose. Can anyone recommend a hotel in San Jose that is near shopping/restaurants for our last night? Is there anything we "must see" in San Jose before we go? (we'll arrive in the afternoon and be flying out around noon the next day)

What kind of shopping and restaurants are you wanting? There is a large mall and then there are small type of shops. Also be aware that the airport is located outside of San Jose and not downtown.

We have stayed at Orquideas Inn and Bougainvilla Inn and enjoyed them both. They are generally within 15min of the airport. The place has a restaurant for dinner. I prefered Orquideas for the dinner and free breakfast.

There is also a large hotel near the mall - thinking it is a Marriott but I could be wrong on the brand.

In SJ city, there is the Hotel Don Carlos--we love staying there, but choose to stay closer to the airport and not in the city these days. But when we were first visiting CR, we liked being in the city and checking it out.

www.doncarloshotel.com

It is in a great part of town, but not for walking around at night--always take a taxi after dark.

About a 3 minute, $3 taxi ride away is El Pueblo, a "mall" of restaurants, discos, bars, and artisan shops. Very nice little shops, some of them. We always enjoyed spending an evening there. Perhaps you would as well.

International Mall in Alajuela, but I'm thinking you're looking for cultural shopping and not "regular" mall shopping.

And yes, in the afternoon, try to walk over to the Plaza de la Cultura, check out the National Theatre (you can go in and look around), sit outside El Gran Hotel Costa Rica and sip a capuccino while people watching. Walk a few blocks to the Mercado Central (walk west down the pedestrian walkway). If you have time, check out the Gold Museum beneath the Bank of Costa Rica right next to National Theatre. Pleasant way to spend 2-3 hours.

There is an hotel map on www.costaricaweb.de . Kap's place is a nice place.

thank you all so much. I'm going to check out don carlos....and if its booked I'll check outorquideas or bouganvilla. "El Pueblo" sounds exactly like what we were looking for (in terms of shopping) Thank you!!

Wilbert, I love the map! It's perfect, I've been looking for map like this. Thanks, Theresa in Detroit.