Costa Rica is Central America's jewel. It's an oasis of calm among its turbulent neighbors and an ecotourism heaven, making it one of the best places to experience the tropics with minimal impact. It's also mostly coastline, which means great surfing, beaches galore and a climate built for laziness.
Costa Rica's enlightened approach to conservation has ensured that lush jungles are home to playful monkeys, languid sloths, crocodiles, countless lizards, poison-dart frogs and a mind-boggling assortment of exotic birds, insects and butterflies. Meanwhile, endangered sea turtles nest on both coasts and cloud forests protect elusive birds and jungle cats.
The province of San Jose, Costa Rica is the most populated of Costa Rica’s provinces and Costa Rica’s Capital, its urban and economical center. A cozy sweater, a wind breaker, and on rare occasion, duck boots, will withstand the worst of San Jose’s moderate climate. Despite the daytime urban business bustle, this city retains its small town aura. San Jose’s charm is sourced from some of its architectural elegance, its complimenting manicured parks, its unique accommodations, and its interesting offering of museums.
Aside from the numerous dining establishments spotted throughout the city, San Jose and in turn Costa Rica are considered more for our wonderful beaches, rain forests, and a most enjoyable engaging nightlife.
A Parisian influenced architectural showpiece with elegantly decorated balconies and marble columns, built in 1890, the National Theater is definitely a place to appreciate San Jose’s charming allure. The Gold Museum, and the Jade Museum both are proud displays of a variety of collections of colonial furniture, archeology, art, and the world’s largest collection of American Jade pieces, all right here downtown.
The outside walls of the National Museum still today retain the scarring from artillery exchanges during the revolution in 1948. The Museum of Costa Rican Art, the Museum of Entomology, the Natural Science Museum, and the Children’s Museum, are all fine examples of host exhibits. The 19th Century architecture of the Heredia, San Jose, and Cartago locales are exquisitely captured at the Pueblo Antiguo, where replicas of the San Juan de Dios Hospital, the market, the fire station, book store, the Costa Rica Bank, and the National Liquor Factory, can be found.
Museums, theatres and cinemas dot the cityscape and the nightlife is vibrant, with packed bars, live music and nightclubs pumping every day of the week. |
