We had been to Costa Rica’s Monteverde and Arenal areas after having put it off for years and were so impressed that we booked another flight shortly after our return. The beauty of the scenery and the multitude of rare colorful birds left a lasting impression on us.
This time instead of flying to Liberia we opted to fly into San José so we could also spend a few days exploring the historical parts of the city along with its museums and parks.
There are multiple flights from Miami to both major airports (San José and Liberia) and we chose an afternoon flight arriving just after 5pm.
We also opted to get a rental car at the airport. There are many articles that discourage you from driving in Costa Rica but, while it may have some challenges (rough and poorly maintained roads, steep ditches, and the occasional aggressive driver) we like the flexibility of having our own car and having driven on our last trip didn’t hesitate to rent. Knowing the roads and a few more of the gotchas that were explained to us on our last trip (like how the police like to remove your license plate if you park illegally) we took the full insurance package!
San José Historic Area
We spend the first 2 days in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. We had selected a locally owned hotel (Hotel Presidente) that was well situated in the historic part of town so we could just park and visit the attractions on foot. This was a great plan as just about everything is close together and within walking distance. This area is pretty safe but do keep in mind that other areas may not be, so probably best not to venture too far afield.
The Hotel Presidente is situated on the site of an old clothing factory. Many of the original artifacts are left on display throughout the lobby and the building including sewing machines and decorative elements from times past.
There used to be numerous stores on the upper floors where the rooms are located now. We were told that it was the place where the first store to import European clothing to San José much to the delight of the locals that had never seen the likes of these fashionable imports.
The rooms themselves however are modern and well appointed. Having booked early, we were fortunate enough to get the one and only room with an enormous outdoor terrace. It was a great place to enjoy our morning coffee and get a sense for whether we’d need our jackets for the day or not.
In reality the mornings were cool on the balcony but by the time the sun was out and 9 o’clock rolled around we were hot in our t-shirts. Good thing we came in the cooler season in February!
We also had a couple of parrots that would come and chatter for us in the morning (usually before 6am).
On our first day, we started our tour early. Being an hour ahead of our usual eastern time and thanks to the parrots, we found ourselves up and ready to go before 7am.
We headed out to the cathedral which opens daily at 6am. There was a ceremony going on, so we had a quick peek inside but didn’t want to interrupt. We went across the street to the small Park Central.
The city was already in full swing with pedestrian and automotive traffic. We sat amongst the imposing structures in the park and watched the pigeons frolicking in the fountains for a bit to pass the time.
Metropolitan Cathedral of San José
We did however go back later to visit the Metropolitan Cathedral as it’s one of San José’s most significant religious and architectural landmarks. It was built in 1871 after the original church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1820.
While its exterior appears relatively modest compared to some grand European cathedrals, it features a beautiful neoclassical façade with twin towers. Inside, you’ll find a surprisingly spacious and elegant interior with beautiful stained-glass windows depicting biblical scenes, colorful murals and decorations, as well as an elaborate checkered tile floor.
Theatres next to the Cathedral
We could see the Teatro Melico Salazar across the street, but you can’t really visit it unless you’re there for a show. The door was open and the guard was nice enough to allow us to enter the lobby where he pointed out the ceiling tiles depicting scenes about the history of San José.
While our guidebook said the National Theatre would be open at 9am, we found that it was exceptionally closed during our visit for rehearsals in the morning. Luckily, we were able to secure tickets for a 4pm English tour so as not to miss the opportunity to visit this highlight of San José.
Pre-Colombian Gold Museum (Museo de Oro Precolombino)
Next, we went to the Pre-Colombian Gold Museum which is right next door to the theater. This museum opened at 9:15am so we grabbed a good Costa Rican coffee at one of the local shops and waited for the opening. There are plenty of coffee shops around where you can sample delicious Costa Rican coffee.
As you descend into the museum you see the huge vault doors reminiscent of a vault in a bank. We were told that this along with the whole idea of building the museum underground was to deter even the thought of theft. The museum is located under the Plaza de la Cultura.
In the Numismatic Museum (also part of the museum) there was a nice display of money pieces from over the years and a history of the Costa Rican currency. We read about the sad times where the price of silver had driven down and devalued the local currency to next to nothing causing much hardship. The decline was finally stabilized by tying the local currency to gold prices at the time.
We also loved the new colorful paper currency of today. Kind of similar to the Canadian currency.
The museum houses many ancient figurines and jewelry pieces from times past showcasing the metal working skills of the craftsmen over the years too.
These national treasures consist of ceremonial objects and animal figurines once owned and worn by priests and leaders. Gold figured prominently in the show of status with the wealthy and powerful.
National Museum of Costa Rica (Museo National de Costa Rica)
Next, we made our way along the pedestrian walkway for a few blocks walking over to the National Museum which started with a surprising passage through a butterfly garden.
There were many exhibits about colonial times along with other artifacts documenting Costa Rica’s transition from Spanish colonization through independence.
This too was a nice museum to visit and in a historic building.
The museum is housed in the Bellavista Fortress, a former military barracks with distinctive yellow walls that dates back to 1917. One of the original round stone fortification towers is still intact but others were destroyed intentionally to prevent their use in war or to discourage future wars.
Another interesting fact is that the museum is located where Costa Rica’s army was abolished in 1948, symbolizing the country’s commitment to peace.
Jade Museum ((Museo del Jade)
Next door to the National Museum is the Jade Museum housed in a modern building. You can’t miss it. The museum encompasses five floors and is beautifully laid out. There was a splendid floor with glass tiles depicting rainforest scenes.
The exhibits are beautifully displayed in state-of-the-art display cases. There are many multimedia elements and life-sized recreations of indigenous dwellings. A beautiful museum with some great exhibits.
The Jade Museum houses the world’s largest collection of American jade with thousands of pre-Columbian artifacts. On display there are more than 7,000 objects including ceremonial and decorative pieces dating back to 500 BC through 800 AD.
The collection extends beyond jade to include ceramics, stone, and gold artifacts. Tools and daily objects, as well as funeral and ritual pieces are also displayed. In fact, there is a full floor dedicated to the latter.
Parque National
Just a couple of blocks further, is the Park National. We walked over to have a look but there wasn’t really much to see here. A central statue and perhaps a place to stroll or to relax a bit. We also wanted to stay within the old city core where there was lots of police presence and tourists.
We then crossed back through the old town (12 blocks or so) to the hustle and bustle of the Central Market.
Central Market
The Central Market is made up of innumerable shops and stalls laid out in a city block sized enclosure filled with narrow makeshift alleyways. It was really crowded and we were sure to keep one hand on our purse and wallet as we squeezed our way through the packed passageways.
It seemed like the place where pickpockets would gather so indeed a place to remain vigilant. The hustle and bustle of the market was still fun to experience and reminiscent of similar markets we had seen in Mexico City, Egypt, or even Istanbul and China.
Walking back to our hotel we saw a beautiful historic building next to the national bank and went to investigate.
Historic Post Office Building
This turned out to be the historic post office and it’s still operational and a busy place. There is a small postal museum off on the side of the entranceway and a security guard was helpful to point it out for us.
The small area houses many historic stamps, P.O. Boxes, ancient equipment such as telegraph machines and other early postal items.
The building itself is beautiful and there is a nice garden and statue in front. Worth the small detour to spend a few minutes exploring.
National Theater
After a short stop back at the hotel where we enjoyed a drink on our nice terrace, we headed off to our National Theatre tour.
It was a poetic justice to leave the best for last. We were there for our 4pm tour which started promptly at 4. The tour was hosted by a couple of actors who had fun with us pretending to be ghosts from ancient times. They would change costumes and come back as various characters.
It’s only possible to visit the theater with guided tours. Between the shenanigans, they also have information about the history of the theater. It took six years to build with expensive marble imported from Italy by boat which was then transported to San José by train and finally brought on site by ox cart. The theater was finished in 1897.
Some of the marble statues in the lobby area looked less shiny than others and we were told that it was due to them having been kept outside in the rain. All statues are now housed inside for safe keeping.
Of all the statues only one was made by a Costa Rican artist, Juan Ramón Bonilla who went to study in Italy. The statue, Heroes of Misery (Heroes de la Miseria), depicted a poor peasant woman holding a child.
As we made our way into the auditorium, we also learned from the actors doing the tour that there was no orchestra pit. At the time of construction, the venue also doubled as a ballroom for weddings and parties so they wanted a uniform height floor so they could use the whole area for the event. A huge mechanical jack system is used to raise the whole floor up to the level of the stage. It takes ten men to turn two large wheels over 100 turns to achieve this feat.
Many beautiful murals cover the walls and the ceilings throughout the theater but one in particular located in the main hallway staircase leading to the ballroom stands out. The Allegory of Coffee and Bananas (Alegoría al Café y el Banano) depicts a local scene, drawn by an Italian artist who has obviously never visited Costa Rica. It is full of errors: Banana bunches are upside down, the coffee harvest is shown to be on the beach, not in a mountainous area, and there is even an electric light on the beach itself.
The foyer itself still had many historic items including a champaign fountain from lavish times. There was ornate gold leaf detailing throughout and an elaborate wood floor. It reminded us of some of the lavish rooms we had seen in many French castles.
We were next invited into the balcony seats where we could admire the theater from above. The 3rd floor bench seats were pointed out to us. These very plain areas and looked almost unfinished. They were made so as to have a spot for the commoners to come view the shows without mingling with the upper class and consisted mainly of benches. A separate entrance was used also to avoid any uncomfortable mingling between classes.
Be sure to visit the historic coffee shop inside the theater too. Their apple strudel and chocolate opera cake were amazing. The historic bar and murals are beautiful.
Later, we had dinner at the hotel on the terrace which was a wonderful way to finish up our day of exploration in San José.
Further afield
We had planned to spend two full days in San José but having done just about all the highlights on our list on day one, we opted to take in some of the other sites further afield from the city and in the opposite direction of Poás, our next destination.
Irazú Volcano
We thus put together a quick plan to go visit the tallest volcano in Costa Rica: Irazú. At 11,260 ft (3432m) above sea level it’s an impressive sight. There are five distinct craters and while the average temperature is supposed to be in the low 40s F, we didn’t end up needing more than a t-shirt on the clear sunny day we had.
The Irazú Volcano is about 90 minutes from San José and an easy drive along good roads. It seemed like we were driving uphill the whole way with some very steep climbs as we approached the national park. Nothing that would require a 4×4 though and a sedan or small economy car could easily make the trip.
We did get one scare on the way with a toll booth. Not having any local currency we were not sure about getting through with our US money but change for US was provided with no issue.
To access the Irazú Volcano National Park you absolutely must buy your timed-entry ticket in advance online. There were many that were refused entry and we could see them trying to connect to the internet to buy their tickets, and there is little to no coverage up there! Much easier to get that done at the hotel with good Wi-Fi or at home before traveling to Costa Rica.
We bought our entry the night before for the Saturday and didn’t have any trouble picking our desired arrival time. They also didn’t seem too strict on the arrival time and let us in 45 minutes earlier than our ticket. At the entrance, you also get a parking voucher to be paid ($5) and validated at the coffee shop near the main parking.
Next to the parking and coffee shop there are clean public bathrooms, a parking attendant looking after the cars and an easy (even wheelchair accessible) path taking you to various lookout points.
One area called Playa Hermosa (Beautiful Beach) is a huge crater with lava sand. There is some grass growing in the center where occasionally water may accumulate forming a lake. Unlike some of the online pictures showing water, we read that the water had dried up years ago.
Even so, it’s an impressive thing to be walking along the inside of Costa Rica’s tallest volcano crater at 11,000 ft! We were blessed with a clear day and we could see for miles. It is high above the clouds so we can imagine that on overcast days getting here must be difficult.
There is a second viewpoint at the highest elevation which is accessible by a long hike or if you have a 4×4 you can take the rough road up by car to the summit. We had a full-size SUV and opted to take the drive over the ruts and holes to the top and quite honestly we’re glad we didn’t do the hike along the rough road in the sun. The view of the crater below was nice but, probably not worth a long dusty hike. That said, we were happy to have visited the Irazú Volcano National Park.
When coming to Irazú from San José the road takes you past Cartago city where it’s worth adding a bit of time to visit a couple of other attractions too.
Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Joseph of Costa Rica
On the way in, we stopped at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Joseph of Costa Rica. This large cathedral was originally constructed in 1802 but was destroyed by an earthquake and was later rebuilt in its current form in 1871.
It embodies Greek-Orthodox, Neo-Classical, and Baroque styles. The large cathedral is impressive to see, and worth spending 30 minutes or so by doing the small detour as you make your way to Irazú.
Tips:
- If coming on a Saturday or Sunday, the parking is free. The metered parking is only in effect Monday-Friday.
- Be careful with maneuvering in Cartago and San José for that matter. The ditches are open drains that often drop a foot or more off the side of the road with no grill or barrier. Get a tire stuck in there and you’re going to be calling a tow truck.
Lankester Botanical Garden
On the way back, we stopped at the Lankester Botanical Garden. We didn’t expect much but we’re both very impressed at the variety and layout of the small but beautiful park. It is managed by the university we later heard.
Be sure to see the Japanese garden and the orchids. Surprisingly we didn’t find many birds although we did come at mid-day so morning or late afternoon may yield better results.
Museum of Costa Rican Art
Also, a little further afield but still in San José is the Museum of Costa Rican Art.
This was a bit far to walk but parking was easy and there were security guards checking over the cars in a private lot.
Be sure to see the mural on the second floor as well as the outdoor sculptures. Entrance was free as was parking.
Overall impressions of San José, Costa Rica
We enjoyed our day in San José and were happy to have stayed in the historic section. Just about everything was within walking distance and you can easily pull off all the major attractions in one day.
We enjoyed the Hotel Presidente and while we did also walk by the Delta (which would have been just fine) it was under renovation and we didn’t want to have to put up with that.
Whether as a starting point for a Costa Rican tour or just a quick stopover, it’s a nice city to visit. We didn’t feel unsafe walking through the historic section but when we drove further afield there were clearly some bad areas.
Next, we headed out to the Poás Volcano National Park area.