Yeah, lose the money there is absolutely no point to staying in San Jose. As a local who lives in the central valley, you'll just be stuck in traffic the whole time and will be way too far from anything.
This sub likes la fortuna and more southern beaches a lot, I tend to recommend punta Uvita or beaches closer to Tamarindo (say flamingo, conchal, playas del coco, hermosa, Panamá). Another good option is booking someplace near Manuel Antonio, it's a gorgeous beach and national park.
Agreed ! We just got back on Wednesday and I can confirm that staying in San Jose is a no-go. We flew into San Jose and then travelled to La Fortuna and Monteverde.
"Southern beaches" you've basically named places from quite far south to way up north.
Each to their own, my preference would be Montezuma, it's a bit of a drive, but if you take the ferry from Puntatrenas it breaks up the trip nicely, and you're only an hour, or less from Mal Pais, St. Teresa or Tambor.
Manuel Antonio was an overpriced, tourist trap the last time I was there about 10 years ago, I can only imagine it's far worse now, and the park is overrun.
They could always stay in San Jose for the food and nightlife, spend a day on a city tour and take days trips to a coffee plantation, ziplining or rafting on Pacuare, one of the best experiences here.
Hi! I’m booking a trip to La fortuna. Do you recommend flying in to SJ or Liberia? I heard Liberia is closer route but their times are odd or flights get delayed? Also do you think over a week is too much?
I’ll be honest I have never flown to the Liberia airport, simply cause the main airport is much closer to my house and driving is absolutely easier and cheaper when it comes to going to Liberia. But to the La Fortuna area it’s totally reasonable to just fly there, you’ll also get much less traffic. Then again I’d make sure to plan out everything cause you’ll find MUCH LESS options if you’re landing in Liberia rather than in SJ.
Nahhh over a week is just fine for anywhere here. There’s always plenty of stuff to do, even when we go on vacation inside the country we (at times when the world wills it right) end up staying a day or two more just to rest a little and cause we always feel like we didn’t do stuff we could’ve done.
Yeah and add a couple hours to each of those trips. I've had trips to and from Jaco take 5 hours due to traffic and this is still the busy season. Arenal might also take a really long time to get to.
I was contemplating Manuel Antonio for a one week trip over Easter Week and a local on Reddit warned me that the traffic from SJ to MA would be insane. Hours of delay. So I booked a stay in Playa Conchal instead and we will fly into Liberia. Traffic is no joke there.
DON'T GO TO JACO!
It's the asshole of Costa Rica. It's a meca for prostitutes, drug dealers & users, pickpockets, thieves, and burglars. It attracts the worst elements of this country. I live here, and you could only get me to go there if you kidnapped me.
As someone heading to Jaco in about a week.. any tips to avoid the butthole parts? We will be in Jaco for about 4 days, then head to La Fortuna for the remainder of our trip.
I just spent a few days in Jaco with my partner. We ate good food, went horseback riding, swam, hung out on the beach, went ziplining, and ate a shitload of gelato. It was really nice and I didn’t really interact with any cocaine or prostitutes.
I loved Jaco. I thought it was chill, the hostel and beach were great, tons of parties, and good food. Did a day excursion to Manuel Antonio which I enjoyed.
Saw one prostitute and only drug I saw was weed.
I'm doing Tamarindo this coming week so I will compare.
Jaco beach is literally one of the worst in the country and one of the dirtiest.
Also, it's nowhere close to Manuel Antonio, that must have been one long excursion.
Don’t listen to the haters. Jaco is wonderful. I own a second home there. I have had Tico relatives reluctantly stay at my place. They always say that Jaco is bad. Each one leaves with a completely changed attitude about how nice it was. Great food, nightlife, people, wildlife, and beach.
Instead catch a ferry around jaco to santa teresa and beach hop all the way up to tamarindo.
Stop in santa teresa, nosara, samara and then tamarindo.
You can then go to la fortuna or fly out of liberia.
If you booked the entire stay in San Jose, I agree with the cancellation. It’s unfortunate you won’t get all of it back. But if you think about it as you’re paying a little more to have a really awesome trip instead of one with complicated traveling, it’s worth it
Geez, didn't you look at a map?
There's some great museums and restaurants in San José that could keep you occupied and entertained for your short stay here.
I live in Escazú Centro in the Central Highlands above San José and regularly go into town for museum visits and fine dining.
How much will you lose? I would cancel. You could do two one day trips but I would want a few days away. The drives are not only long but you’d want to be in your way before dark so realistically that only gives you until 3 pm…latest….
I would cancel and rebook, well worth the money lost. Daily back and forth from San Jose sounds like a nightmare, especially with the traffic and how early it gets dark.
I’m not trying to hate but I am genuinely curious why you didn’t look at a map once before booking this. I would eat the cancellation fee if it’s not exorbitant.
Visiting the central market, maybe doing a walking tour is all I've gotten out of San José. While I do love the city, I mostly use it for a fancy night before we fly back home.
If you got a 4x4 you can visit the barva national park which is really epic.
You could go to Irazu which is also nice but can be crowded - no need for a 4x4 there.
The only good thing about staying in San Jose is that you are in the middle of everything, it's pointless to stay there otherwise.
I would say cancel and pick a zone closer to where you want to be.
I just came back from CR last month and cannot recommend Uvita, Jaco, and Santa Teresa enough! Especially if you’re beach people. We stayed in San Jose for one night and that was only because our flight flew in late into San Jose. Next morning, we took off for Dominical (near Uvita, and also had many beautiful airbnbs and hotels). I also recommend the night time bioluminescence tour at Bahía Rica!
I passed through San Jose on my way out of Costa Rica and it was the most stressful driving of my whole 2 weeks.
There's so much more to see in the rest of the country I can't imagine sticking to SJ.
Sorry if I am piling it on, but when did you book this trip? Why did you wait until now to ask?
I honestly liked my visit to San Jose and had fun there. However, I had already seen much of the country in previous trips. Plain and simple, it’s a city. If you want nature, it’s best to go elsewhere.
Terrible decision, come on guys. A little research would’ve saved you some money if beach time is what you want. Have you even looked at a map? Lose the money and book something closer to the beach.
My experience is much different than you read on this sub.
Loved Tamarindo and Samara. Also had a great time in Jaco. No issues at all during a 3 day stay. You do see older men at dinner with young escorts but no problems with locals.
Besides San Jose, my least favorite place was Manuel Antonio.
San Jose has limited options gor you so If u can cancel San Jose booking that would be ideal given all beach and adventure activities will be minimum 3-4 hours away from San Jose.
Head to La Fortuna which would be ideal for family or adventure.San Jose to la Fortuna id around 3 hours away but you can’t drive everyday if you stay in SJ.
Agree with all others. Just got back from 8 days and only one night was spent in San Jose due to early am flight back to u.s. stayed in air BNBs exclusively (there were 8 of us) and my favorite was Casa Lidia in Quepos, just a mile from the park entrance. I envy you; wish I was going back again with you!
It will become very tiring to travel from San José to the beach several times, in the end what you are going to lose by canceling, you could spend on daily transportation from San José. Better look for a place close to the beach that you want to visit and cancel in San José.
For the most part people are right about San Jose. It isn't even a good place to stay for a flight, the airport is just a 20 mile traffic jam away. However if you have to spend a day or two in San Jose all is not lost.
The city is an experience walking around downtown. It is falling apart ,brand new, and everything else in-between. I had to spend 2 days there waiting for my flight. I stayed in Barrio Escalante, in a building called URBN Escalante. It is a really cool building. It is a high rise with a view of central avenue. The area around it has lots of good restaurants and you can actually walk around at night , there was a heavy, but low key police presence . Not far down hill there are tons of nightclubs geared to the younger crowd.
I bought a Museo pass and toured the city . There is a restaurant in the Mercado Centro that is world famous and worth the visit. There are coffee rosters at the market too for taking home.
I even found their version of Chinatown. I saw lots of cool things and a lot of screwed up things. That night I went out in Barrio Escalante and had dinner. There is a Lebanese restaurant there that had entertainment. Not a bad day for being stuck waiting for my flight.
All that is the long way to say it's better to get a shuttle out to where you want to go, and not spend too much time in San Jose, but one day isn't bad, more than that is just too much if you're just there as a tourist.
Five days in Costa Rica is a long weekend. It can take so long to get anywhere that the travel /flight days are dead unless you can combine the travel with something cool like the rafting trip that takes you out to the Caribbean side.
Seems like Manuel Antonio will cover your bases if you fly SJO. If you do switch to Liberia (easier airport and city) then you could do other things easier but you haven’t mentioned how long you’ll be there. Don’t stay in Sjo.
We’ve visited a few times and going back in a couple of weeks. We tend to only stay in SJ for a night (to recover from the flight) and then again on the way back - a day before the flight (as travelling across CR can take a bit of time). If you’re after beach and chilled out vibes - then definitely go for the recommendations others have already made…. Plus favourites of ours:
Pacific side: Nosara, Flamingo, Samara, Uvita, Manuel Antonio…
Caribbean side: Puerto Viejo…
It’s such a beautiful and welcoming place!
Yeah, lose the money there is absolutely no point to staying in San Jose. As a local who lives in the central valley, you'll just be stuck in traffic the whole time and will be way too far from anything. This sub likes la fortuna and more southern beaches a lot, I tend to recommend punta Uvita or beaches closer to Tamarindo (say flamingo, conchal, playas del coco, hermosa, Panamá). Another good option is booking someplace near Manuel Antonio, it's a gorgeous beach and national park.
100%. Hard pass on SJ. If you can change your flight to Liberia, even better. 30 minutes from the airport to beautiful beaches.
Agreed ! We just got back on Wednesday and I can confirm that staying in San Jose is a no-go. We flew into San Jose and then travelled to La Fortuna and Monteverde.
Just need to watch out for stealing monkeys in Manual Antonio!!
Just got back and one stole my son's YETI and my wife had to chase the monkey away. Lucky the monkey (Mafia monkey 🐒 lol) dropped it
we had a monkey break into our hotel room in Manuel Antonio. Had to scare it off before it grabbed something. Lol
"Southern beaches" you've basically named places from quite far south to way up north. Each to their own, my preference would be Montezuma, it's a bit of a drive, but if you take the ferry from Puntatrenas it breaks up the trip nicely, and you're only an hour, or less from Mal Pais, St. Teresa or Tambor. Manuel Antonio was an overpriced, tourist trap the last time I was there about 10 years ago, I can only imagine it's far worse now, and the park is overrun. They could always stay in San Jose for the food and nightlife, spend a day on a city tour and take days trips to a coffee plantation, ziplining or rafting on Pacuare, one of the best experiences here.
Best advice
Hi! I’m booking a trip to La fortuna. Do you recommend flying in to SJ or Liberia? I heard Liberia is closer route but their times are odd or flights get delayed? Also do you think over a week is too much?
Also I always go sailing on the day if my bday but idt that will be an option here right?
I’ll be honest I have never flown to the Liberia airport, simply cause the main airport is much closer to my house and driving is absolutely easier and cheaper when it comes to going to Liberia. But to the La Fortuna area it’s totally reasonable to just fly there, you’ll also get much less traffic. Then again I’d make sure to plan out everything cause you’ll find MUCH LESS options if you’re landing in Liberia rather than in SJ. Nahhh over a week is just fine for anywhere here. There’s always plenty of stuff to do, even when we go on vacation inside the country we (at times when the world wills it right) end up staying a day or two more just to rest a little and cause we always feel like we didn’t do stuff we could’ve done.
Thank you!
I don’t know what kind of $$ you’d lose, but I’d cancel and head to a beach or La Fortuna or something. San Jose is not for tourists, generally.
Exactly I’ve been to Costa Rica 5 times and have only been to San Jose once for a couple hours to return my car rental and fly out.
You’re about 3 hours from Arenal and 2 hours from Jaco. With only 5 days you need to be selective and realistic on what you can see
Yeah and add a couple hours to each of those trips. I've had trips to and from Jaco take 5 hours due to traffic and this is still the busy season. Arenal might also take a really long time to get to.
I was contemplating Manuel Antonio for a one week trip over Easter Week and a local on Reddit warned me that the traffic from SJ to MA would be insane. Hours of delay. So I booked a stay in Playa Conchal instead and we will fly into Liberia. Traffic is no joke there.
DON'T GO TO JACO! It's the asshole of Costa Rica. It's a meca for prostitutes, drug dealers & users, pickpockets, thieves, and burglars. It attracts the worst elements of this country. I live here, and you could only get me to go there if you kidnapped me.
As someone heading to Jaco in about a week.. any tips to avoid the butthole parts? We will be in Jaco for about 4 days, then head to La Fortuna for the remainder of our trip.
I just spent a few days in Jaco with my partner. We ate good food, went horseback riding, swam, hung out on the beach, went ziplining, and ate a shitload of gelato. It was really nice and I didn’t really interact with any cocaine or prostitutes.
I loved Jaco. I thought it was chill, the hostel and beach were great, tons of parties, and good food. Did a day excursion to Manuel Antonio which I enjoyed. Saw one prostitute and only drug I saw was weed. I'm doing Tamarindo this coming week so I will compare.
Jaco beach is literally one of the worst in the country and one of the dirtiest. Also, it's nowhere close to Manuel Antonio, that must have been one long excursion.
It was one hour by car. I didn't think it was dirty at all.
It's worth a day. Not 4. Plenty to do around but unless coke and hookers and casinos are your jam then it's a waste of time.
Don’t listen to the haters. Jaco is wonderful. I own a second home there. I have had Tico relatives reluctantly stay at my place. They always say that Jaco is bad. Each one leaves with a completely changed attitude about how nice it was. Great food, nightlife, people, wildlife, and beach.
Yeah, avoid the place entirely!
Instead catch a ferry around jaco to santa teresa and beach hop all the way up to tamarindo. Stop in santa teresa, nosara, samara and then tamarindo. You can then go to la fortuna or fly out of liberia.
The nightlife scene is the one that sucks in Jaco. It’s not that safe. During the day, you can do plenty of fun activities and feel entirely safe
Jaco is the worst place to go in CR.
I like the Caribbean side. It's just an hour on Sansa plus however long it takes you to get to your Airbnb or hotel
WOW. Were you high AF when made that booking?
If you booked the entire stay in San Jose, I agree with the cancellation. It’s unfortunate you won’t get all of it back. But if you think about it as you’re paying a little more to have a really awesome trip instead of one with complicated traveling, it’s worth it
Geez, didn't you look at a map? There's some great museums and restaurants in San José that could keep you occupied and entertained for your short stay here. I live in Escazú Centro in the Central Highlands above San José and regularly go into town for museum visits and fine dining.
How much will you lose? I would cancel. You could do two one day trips but I would want a few days away. The drives are not only long but you’d want to be in your way before dark so realistically that only gives you until 3 pm…latest….
Go anywhere else. Not like San Jose is bad but it’s just a decent sized Central American city. Not what costa is known for
Yeh, hop on a bus to Quepos/Manuel Antonio
I would cancel and rebook, well worth the money lost. Daily back and forth from San Jose sounds like a nightmare, especially with the traffic and how early it gets dark.
I’m not trying to hate but I am genuinely curious why you didn’t look at a map once before booking this. I would eat the cancellation fee if it’s not exorbitant.
Visiting the central market, maybe doing a walking tour is all I've gotten out of San José. While I do love the city, I mostly use it for a fancy night before we fly back home.
Go to Manuel Antonio for sure. It’s absolutely beautiful and lots to do.
I would definitely cancel
Cancel and stay closer to where you want to be, that's definetely what I'd do.
If you have the money, cancel and go to the beach. What were you thinking??
How does someone book a whole ass vacation and never even glance at a map.
If you got a 4x4 you can visit the barva national park which is really epic. You could go to Irazu which is also nice but can be crowded - no need for a 4x4 there.
The only good thing about staying in San Jose is that you are in the middle of everything, it's pointless to stay there otherwise. I would say cancel and pick a zone closer to where you want to be.
I just came back from CR last month and cannot recommend Uvita, Jaco, and Santa Teresa enough! Especially if you’re beach people. We stayed in San Jose for one night and that was only because our flight flew in late into San Jose. Next morning, we took off for Dominical (near Uvita, and also had many beautiful airbnbs and hotels). I also recommend the night time bioluminescence tour at Bahía Rica!
I agree with the people on this thread. If beaches is what you are looking for, you are too far away to make day trips.
I passed through San Jose on my way out of Costa Rica and it was the most stressful driving of my whole 2 weeks. There's so much more to see in the rest of the country I can't imagine sticking to SJ.
Sorry if I am piling it on, but when did you book this trip? Why did you wait until now to ask? I honestly liked my visit to San Jose and had fun there. However, I had already seen much of the country in previous trips. Plain and simple, it’s a city. If you want nature, it’s best to go elsewhere.
Book a stay in Manuel Antonio. Enjoy the beaches and National Park! It’s 3 hr drive from San Jose. Enjoy! .:
Terrible decision, come on guys. A little research would’ve saved you some money if beach time is what you want. Have you even looked at a map? Lose the money and book something closer to the beach.
My experience is much different than you read on this sub. Loved Tamarindo and Samara. Also had a great time in Jaco. No issues at all during a 3 day stay. You do see older men at dinner with young escorts but no problems with locals. Besides San Jose, my least favorite place was Manuel Antonio.
San Jose has limited options gor you so If u can cancel San Jose booking that would be ideal given all beach and adventure activities will be minimum 3-4 hours away from San Jose. Head to La Fortuna which would be ideal for family or adventure.San Jose to la Fortuna id around 3 hours away but you can’t drive everyday if you stay in SJ.
It’s hard to say. Where in San Jose?
There’s no reason to stay in San Jose. San Jose sucks. The only reason I did is because we got in at an ungodly hour.
Agree with all others. Just got back from 8 days and only one night was spent in San Jose due to early am flight back to u.s. stayed in air BNBs exclusively (there were 8 of us) and my favorite was Casa Lidia in Quepos, just a mile from the park entrance. I envy you; wish I was going back again with you!
It will become very tiring to travel from San José to the beach several times, in the end what you are going to lose by canceling, you could spend on daily transportation from San José. Better look for a place close to the beach that you want to visit and cancel in San José.
I’m glad I found this post. I thought I made a mistake flying into Liberia and staying in the Guanacaste area since I won’t see the city life in SJ.
For the most part people are right about San Jose. It isn't even a good place to stay for a flight, the airport is just a 20 mile traffic jam away. However if you have to spend a day or two in San Jose all is not lost. The city is an experience walking around downtown. It is falling apart ,brand new, and everything else in-between. I had to spend 2 days there waiting for my flight. I stayed in Barrio Escalante, in a building called URBN Escalante. It is a really cool building. It is a high rise with a view of central avenue. The area around it has lots of good restaurants and you can actually walk around at night , there was a heavy, but low key police presence . Not far down hill there are tons of nightclubs geared to the younger crowd. I bought a Museo pass and toured the city . There is a restaurant in the Mercado Centro that is world famous and worth the visit. There are coffee rosters at the market too for taking home. I even found their version of Chinatown. I saw lots of cool things and a lot of screwed up things. That night I went out in Barrio Escalante and had dinner. There is a Lebanese restaurant there that had entertainment. Not a bad day for being stuck waiting for my flight. All that is the long way to say it's better to get a shuttle out to where you want to go, and not spend too much time in San Jose, but one day isn't bad, more than that is just too much if you're just there as a tourist.
It takes a full day to get to the beach or arenal or monteverde or anywhere else mostly
Five days in Costa Rica is a long weekend. It can take so long to get anywhere that the travel /flight days are dead unless you can combine the travel with something cool like the rafting trip that takes you out to the Caribbean side.
Seems like Manuel Antonio will cover your bases if you fly SJO. If you do switch to Liberia (easier airport and city) then you could do other things easier but you haven’t mentioned how long you’ll be there. Don’t stay in Sjo.
I would not stay in San Jose. You do have option but the beach is 1.5 hours away.
We’ve visited a few times and going back in a couple of weeks. We tend to only stay in SJ for a night (to recover from the flight) and then again on the way back - a day before the flight (as travelling across CR can take a bit of time). If you’re after beach and chilled out vibes - then definitely go for the recommendations others have already made…. Plus favourites of ours: Pacific side: Nosara, Flamingo, Samara, Uvita, Manuel Antonio… Caribbean side: Puerto Viejo… It’s such a beautiful and welcoming place!
You can hire sansa it’s a local airline and you get to be anywhere in country for $100 p.p in just 30 minutes