San Jose

i don’t remember

Costa Rica is great; San Jose is not. Your best move is to get as far away as possible as soon as you land.

Not trying to be mean to San Jose here – even locals will tell you that San Jose is not why anyone goes to Costa Rica.

didnt spend much time in san jose, but from what I saw it looked like a standard city…...streets, mcDonalds and some palm trees.

Again, the people were friendly, but some areas definitly look sketchy. Make sure you knw the area you are in.

Basically, my sister and I flew into the airport here and stayed 2 half-days/nights and didn’t do much in the city.

San Jose is pretty junky, but I suppose it has its charms in places.

I saw a lot of American things in San Jose like Payless Shoesource, Converse, Levi’s store, KFC, McDonalds, Burger Kind, Subway, and Wendy’s. Nowhere else in Costa Rica did I notice these things.

We stayed at Hotel Aranjuez in the Barrio Amon neighborhood both nights we were there, which is a little up from downtown and fulls of hospitals. The hotel was nice, and cheap.

The last night we stayed in San Jose we got there in the evening and we went and had dinner at Tin Jo, which serves pan-Asian food. I had some stir-fry bok choi, shiitake mushrooms, and hearts of palm and spicy ma po tofu. We also had spring rolls as a starter which were pretty good, and for dessert I had an exotic sample of fruit sorbets. The sample included lemongrass and mint, passion fruit, orange with basil, papaya colada, and blackberry with anise. Yum! Tin Jo was a pretty fancy place with tablecloths and table candles and whatnot, but it wasn’t super expensive.

It’s a hassle to have to get transportation to the airport, but I suppose it’s nice that our taxi only cost 7,000 colones (or about $14). There’s also public buses, but they drop you off downtown at a bus station, and then you have to fend on your own. Also the public buses run sort of far from the airport terminals. I took a public bus when we first got there, but the taxi was definitely easier.

Taxis within the city are relatively cheap and very easy. Hotels, shops, and restaurants will call taxis for you. It’s the simpliest way to get around since there aren’t really any labeled street addresses in the city.

Travel in groups. On of our crewmembers that was a minute behind us on a major street at dust was robbed at knife point. No harm done except loosing his wedding ring – could have been avoided though.

I liked the place. The people I encountered were friendly and appreciative of us buying/drinking/eating in their shops.

jack

I went here on a missions trip last summer for two weeks and it was absolutely GORGEOUS! I wasn’t able to visit the beach but I did get a chance to visit the rain forest with a waterfall – BEAUTIFUL. The people there had a very warm spirit about them and welcomed us into their country with so much love and affection. The entire country was lush and green with life, it rained alot, but it was one of the best trips I have ever been on.

nice national theatre

I ended up here by accidentally booking a ticket to San Jose instead of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I was supposed to go. One of my better mistakes.

I was born in New Orleans but I was raised in Costa Rica. I graduated from highschool down in that small paradise. I miss the ocean and the people. I wish I could go back soon.

It’s more of a gateway. Otherwise, much the same as any city. The hotel we stared at was AMAZING though.