"Stopover City" a San José Travel Page by Firestar24

San Jose, San Jose.... We arrived late at the airport and after going through ALOT of security we finally got all the boxes checked in the right places, all the necessary stamps and carried on through to the HEAVING greeters area and looked for our names among the hundreds of bits of cardboard thrust in our faces.

Finally we managed to find the right guys who managed to turn a 20 minute transfer into a two hour mission to find the right house for some guy who'd arranged a homestay. We arrived at The Greenhouse Hostel moy stressed and gasping for nicotine. Despite this we found the beds to be delightfully squishy and sank gratefully into them to refresh ourselves for our first day.

Costa Rica has so many attractive areas to visit and we only had nine days to explore it. Competing against Malpais, The Osis Peninsular and Manuel Antonio, you would be justified in surprise at our decision to use one of our precious days to discover the Capital. San Jose has had a bit of an unfair deal as far as press and guidebooks are concerned and our late decision was influenced by our joint love of cities and in particular, capital cities.

We enjoyed it. We found San Jose to be safe, cheap and friendly and had a good night out and a pleasant walk around during the day. It’s not a startlingly attractive city and it’s not the kind of place where you are spoilt for choice with things to do, but it is comfortable and practical with a spattering of a few good bars and restaurants.

We found San Jose to be fairly safe to walk around, even at night with some good restaurants, bars and shops at VERY reasonable prices. Jonathan picked up a new pair of VANS, having trashed his last pair and we had a very pleasent walk around the city followed by a massive meal in The News Cafe. That night we decided to go out for "a couple of drinks" and ended up completely leathered and staggering through the streets at 2am. All well and good. Oh, and our big night out... it cost us 7200 Colones... That's £7.20 or $16 to you and me!!!