San José Costa Rica
San José is the capital of Costa Rica, a modern and cosmopolitan city and the home of the major airport of this Central American nation. Founded in 1738, San José is one of those cities which combines the modern with the old. Because of the city’s location in the middle of the country, that allows you to have direct access routes to all parts of the country, San José is an ideal starting point to explore Costa Rica’s rainforests or an excellent place to cool down after tanning at the beach. The city offers its visitors a wide variety of hotels and accommodations, casinos, theatres, golf courses, museums, markets, fine restaurants such as billy sazon in rohrmoser, incredible nightlife, and adventure tours. San José is home to several theater groups, excellent museums, parks, a national symphony, cinemas, and universities.
San Jose Attractions and Activities
When you go visit San Jose in Costa Rica, there are plenty of attractions in the city, and different activities for all tastes. If you are interested in all types of arts, San Jose offers a large number of museums and many theaters that offer different types of plays (theater has been an essential icon in the cultural life of the nation). If you like music there is a list of music tradition influences in the country. You might get in contact with Afro-Caribbean, Anglo-American, folk rhythms, and Classical music.
Another part of the activity in Costa Rica that just cannot be ignored is the ecotourism. In San José, you can find National Parks and Reserves, which seem like very relaxing spots, and places to clear your mind from a fast rhythm of life. Some of them are Braulio Carrillo National Park, Chirripó National Park, and Carara Biological Reserve.
San Josè Costa Rica museums
There are a lot of museums in San Josè. The Museum of Precolumbian gold is located under the Plaza de la Cultura in San José. The Coin Museum is located in the same building. Its exhibit includes information on coins, as well as interesting samples. The other museum is the Jade Museum. The amazing quantities and the quality of the jade in the country can only be attributed to trade since the country lacks jade mines.
The exhibit in this museum is the largest American jade collection in the world. The national museum is located in an old fort, which was marked by bullet holes during the 1948 Civil War. The archaeological room offers several Aboriginal artifacts made of stone and clay, like pottery. The colonial room presents facts about the conquest and also some examples of religious art brought by the Spaniards. If you are an art lover, there are two museums that you won’t want to miss.
The Museo de Arte Costarricense with the fine paintings and sculptures and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. There is also the Museo Criminológico (criminology museum). There are bizarre pictures and even body parts! Besides these grotesque artifacts, there is a narration of the history of criminology and law enforcement in Costa Rica.
What to do in San Jose?
What to do in San Jose? There are many activities that you can in San José. If you are an adventure lover, try rafting down the Pacuare River, one of the best rivers to raft on in the country. There are other attractions in San José, which you can not miss:
– the National Theatre,
– the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design
– the fabulous Jade Museum
– if you have kids, a great place to take them would be to the Simon Bolivar National Zoo and the kid’s Museum
– the Mercado Central and Avenida Central, the perfect friendly epicenter of shops and restaurants
– the National Theatre, created in 1897 is one of Costa Rica’s grandest architectural attractions
– the San Pedro Mall, is the largest mall in Central America and offers quality merchandise of every sort
– the Parque Central, the city’s oldest park
– the Metropolitan Cathedral, the most important church in Costa Rica
– the Gran Hotel, Costa Rica’s grande dame of accommodations
– the Parque Nacional, San José’s largest urban park
– the Natural History Museum contains varied displays of zoology, archeology, geology, and mineralogy.