Chessy

What is the water temp like in September. I have checked out the weather and they have highs of 70's during the day and low's of 59-61 in the am and PM. Would swimming on the beach be an option in SanJose. What are the must sees?

tully

Which part of the country are you looking at for the 'must-sees'? Same goes for water temp - not sure what you mean for checking the weather - for where? Most places will be hotter than the 70's. There is no beach in San Jose, the closest beach is about 3 hours away.

sylvia3

IN the northwest, water is warm.
In the southwest, water is very warm.

Chessy

Thank you for your reply. I guess we would be taking a tour to a beach possible Manuel Antonio National Park. There are supposed to be nice beaches there. That would be south west if I am not mistaken and that would be very warm as you mentioned Sylvia if I am not mistaken. Any other beaches you suggest. I did not realize beaches were that far away.

tully

MA is about the nicest beach you can get to from San Jose. Round trip you'd be looking at 5-6 hours. Easier to just stay there than a day trip.

sylvia3

I ask again, are you staying in a so-so rated place in the center of the city for a good reason? You might want to think about staying somewhere like Manuel Antonio.

volcanogirl

Chessy, is there any reason you're staying in San Jose? It's a place that most tourists avoid. The beauty and adventure of CR is in other places. I'd look at staying in the areas that you want to visit. San Jose is just a big city with traffic, bars on the windows, etc. There are a few museums, but other than that, I'd look elsewhere for wildlife, jungles, beaches, and adventure activities. Day trips are not going to be very convenient from the city.

Chessy

Hi Volcano girl and Sylvia, we are already booked for the Taranova palmas Villas. My girlfriend has a Time share and that is where we ended up so we are working with that. It has been booked for months and I am doing the research before we go because I just now have time to do it. May be putting the cart before the horse but this is just how it is. There is no leeway in changing hotels or areas. So I am working aroung where we are and trying to get the most out of the trip. I am seeing that day trips are a ways away from where we are, but we will have to work with that.

Chessy

Hi Tully, MA is the name of the beach? How far is that from San Jose?

Chessy

I guess you meant MA, Manuel Antonio Beach. That is the one I read was the nicest. WEe would make a day out of that trip.

volcanogirl

Yep, MA is Manuel Antonio. It will take you about 3 hours to get there from San Jose. It's a national park with a lot of wildlife at the beach. The animals are used to people, so you can usually get fairly close. We saw a lot of monkeys there. I'd get there fairly early in the day because they limit the number of people who can enter. The beach inside the park is beautiful. It's closed on Mondays.

Kinkazote

Chessy:

I understand that you are trying to deal with the housing situation you are locked into, and probably don't wish to have the cart-horse-sequencing finger-waving revisited.

Let me suggest that you look at this website:

http://www.tucanlimoservices.com/tours-sanjose.html

There will be found a big selection of day tours from San Jose, including minor things that are completely under the radar of most tourists. (We have visited a hammock factory and a high-style leather working shop on day tours for instance.) I should add that I am not associated with this firm other than as an old customer, and there is no way that I could conceivably benefit from mentioning its name.

If you could plan day trips through this company involving a private driver at essentially your own times, you might turn this into an interesting vacation. You could be steered to restaurants serving typical costa rican dishes (not just "soda" cafes) and make the fruits and vegetables of the land a focus of your trip.

There are things to see in San Jose that people don't usually mention: an old church or two, the new stadium, some old colonial architecture (although it's often painted over and encrusted with razor wire) and all sorts of small manufacturing shops. The opera house (don't worry about grand opera) and a few museums get most of the tourist crowd.

As pointed out before, many tourists flee San Jose the day after arrival and don't realize that there are amusements in the capital for those whose horses push their carts.

sylvia3

There are certainly many many day trips (for example, volcan Irazu could be combined with a visit to what's left of the former colonial capitol of Cartago; volcan Poas, which is known for a beautiful crater; and nearby La Paz Waterfall Gardens and coffee and other plantation tours).

You can do a beach day in less than a 2 hour drive: I WOULD NOT try to do Manual Antonio as a day trip; the closest beach area to San Jose would be Punta Leona and Herradura; Jaco a bit south. Those you can reach from San Jose in 2 hours; get a really early start, and you can have a full day at the beach without too much stress. MA park is pricey, and overcrowded early (check out Playa Hermosa; there are several, so look at a map).
Several towns near San Jose (in the Alajuela province; for example, Grecia, Zarcero, and Sarchi) are well worth a day trip; beautiful towns, interesting and in lush surroundings. http://www.govisitcostarica.com/region/city.asp?cID=387
Actually, being located in San Jose might be a pretty good idea!

volcanogirl

I'd definitely hit up Poas and the Waterfall Gardens - those are both nice stops. Poas can fog over, so the advice is always to get there early for best chances to see the crater.