San Jose is the capital and largest city in Costa Rica. Most international flights arrive at San Jose international airport, the entryway to Costa Rica. It is surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, lush forests, wildlife, and beaches. With so many incredible things to do in other well-known districts of Costa Rica, you might want to move on to your next stop, but you could still want to stay in San Jose for at least one day before or after seeing other places.
Here are the top things you can do in San Jose City.
Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
It’s located in downtown San Jose. It was built in 1871 and has a very attractive interior.
Parque Central de San José
The park in the center of the downtown, great place to meet and greet or just relax on the benches.
National Theater of Costa Rica
It is located in downtown San Jose and was built between 1891 and 1897.
The lobby had many beautiful marble sculptures. You can also take guided tours to see it.
Pre-Columbian Gold Museum
Pre-Columbian Gold Museum is located in downtown San Jose, with a collection of over 3,500 artifacts made up of ceramic, gold, and stone. The collection dating back as far as 500 AD and is one of the largest collections of Pre-Columbian gold in the Americas. There are three levels – the main level has exhibit about coins, the second level has geography exhibit and the basement is gold.
Central Market
Central Market in San Jose is the best place to buy souvenirs. It has a lot of shops to look around and offers a variety of options including shirts, clothing, decorative items and more.
La Sabana Park
This is the largest park in the country and offers green space for leisure walks. One side of it is the National Stadium, and the other side is the Costa Rica Art Museum.
The bronze statue of Costa Rican formal President Leon Cortes.
Museum of Costa Rican Art
It is located inside La Sabana Park and free to visit. It had great collection of local art.
It also had a fantastic outdoor sculpture park.
Golden room on second floor was impressive. Its gold-like walls sculptures telling the story of the history of Costa Rica as a nation.
Try Local Food
Sodas are what Costa Ricans call their local Costa Rican restaurant. You can find Sodas everywhere in Costa Rica and they are like mom and pop restaurants serving local Costa Rican food. Soda Tapia is located across La Sabana park and had a lot of options to choose from.
Here is the map of the list of things mentioned here.
We did guided tour of San Jose with gate1travel. The guide explains the history, culture, and the historic landmarks of the city.
Here are some similar tours if you want to book them on your own. City tour, Viator and getyourguide.
You can also get to San Jose downtown by bus or taxi and walk to all the places at your pace.