San José travel guide

Costa Rica · Top sights · trending spots

San José is where Costa Rica's flights land and where the buses and shuttles leave from; the country itself, a quarter of which is protected, starts a couple of hours in any direction.

Arenal has the hot springs under its cone, Monteverde the cloud forest and the zip lines, and Manuel Antonio sloths in the trees above the beach. The gold and jade museums in the city are worth the evening.

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Next long-break window · based on public holidays in United States11.26 – 11.291 leave → 4 daysPlan this trip

Top 10 sights in San José

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

© Fespinozalemistre · CC BY-SA 4.0
National Museum of Costa Rica
The national museum, in the Bellavista barracks — the building from which the army was formally abolished in 1948, its walls still carrying bullet holes from the civil war that preceded that. Pre-Columbian gold, jade and the stone spheres are inside; a butterfly garden fills the courtyard.
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© Archtktn · CC BY-SA 4.0
Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles
The Catholic basilica at Cartago in Costa Rica. It was built in 1639 and brought down by earthquake; the present building of 1939 mixes colonial forms with nineteenth-century Byzantine, and it holds the country's patron image, La Negrita.
Tiqets Klook
© Andy Rusch · CC BY 2.0
Metropolitan Cathedral of San José
The metropolitan cathedral of San José, finished in 1871 with a Greek Orthodox-looking dome and a neoclassical portico. The bishop who built it is buried inside, and the plaza in front of it is the city's shady lunch spot.
Tiqets Klook
© Rodtico21 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Parque Zoológico Nacional Simón Bolívar
A park of about fourteen hectares in central San José in Costa Rica. It is the oldest botanical garden and zoo in the country and is named after Simón Bolívar, the liberator of Latin America.
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© Puroticorico · CC BY 2.0
Pre-Columbian Gold Museum
A museum beneath the Plaza de la Cultura in San José, run by the central bank of Costa Rica. It holds 3,567 pre-Columbian objects, among them 1,922 ceramics and 1,586 pieces of goldwork.
Tiqets Klook
© Rodtico21 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Costa Rican Museum of Art
The national art museum, opened in 1978 in the terminal building of the old airport at La Sabana. Its upstairs Golden Hall is carved and painted around all four walls with a history of Costa Rica; the collection runs to over six thousand works.
Tiqets Klook
Museum of Contemporary Art and Design
A museum in Costa Rica established in 1994. It shows Central American contemporary art and design together with international work.
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© Antonio Solera · CC BY 3.0
Plaza de la Democracia
The Plaza of Democracy and the Abolition of the Military, laid out in 1989 on the fortieth anniversary of the decision to disband the army. It steps down beside the National Museum, and craft stalls line the upper edge.
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Our Lady of the Pillar Cathedral, Alajuela
The Catholic cathedral of Alajuela, the second city of Costa Rica. It is the mother church of the diocese of Alajuela, created by a bull of Benedict XV in 1921, and grew from a small chapel of 1782.
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© Tillor87 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fortín de Heredia
A small round brick tower of 1876 on the corner of the central park, raised as a lookout and armoury and now the emblem of Heredia. Its gun ports widen outward rather than inward, a builder's mistake the town has enjoyed ever since.
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Popular tickets & tours in San José

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Trending now

Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

© ArquiWHAT · CC BY-SA 4.0
Parque de Diversiones
An amusement park opened in 1981 whose profits go to the National Children's Hospital, the purpose set by the doctor who proposed it. Four roller coasters run here, the largest being Bocaraca of 2005, alongside a reconstructed village of old Costa Rican buildings.
Tiqets Klook
© Rquesada · CC BY-SA 3.0
Museo de Cultura Popular
A folklore museum at Santa Lucía south of Barva, in the adobe farmhouse of a former president. It is furnished as a nineteenth-century coffee farmer's house, with the kitchen worked by staff in period dress and coffee grown in the grounds.
Tiqets Klook

Find dates you can go →

Top 10 sights in San José

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

National Museum of Costa Rica

The national museum, in the Bellavista barracks — the building from which the army was formally abolished in 1948, its walls still carrying bullet holes from the civil war that preceded that. Pre-Columbian gold, jade and the stone spheres are inside; a butterfly garden fills the courtyard.

Tiqets

Klook

Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles

The Catholic basilica at Cartago in Costa Rica. It was built in 1639 and brought down by earthquake; the present building of 1939 mixes colonial forms with nineteenth-century Byzantine, and it holds the country's patron image, La Negrita.

Tiqets

Klook

Metropolitan Cathedral of San José

The metropolitan cathedral of San José, finished in 1871 with a Greek Orthodox-looking dome and a neoclassical portico. The bishop who built it is buried inside, and the plaza in front of it is the city's shady lunch spot.

Tiqets

Klook

Parque Zoológico Nacional Simón Bolívar

A park of about fourteen hectares in central San José in Costa Rica. It is the oldest botanical garden and zoo in the country and is named after Simón Bolívar, the liberator of Latin America.

Tiqets

Klook

Pre-Columbian Gold Museum

A museum beneath the Plaza de la Cultura in San José, run by the central bank of Costa Rica. It holds 3,567 pre-Columbian objects, among them 1,922 ceramics and 1,586 pieces of goldwork.

Tiqets

Klook

Costa Rican Museum of Art

The national art museum, opened in 1978 in the terminal building of the old airport at La Sabana. Its upstairs Golden Hall is carved and painted around all four walls with a history of Costa Rica; the collection runs to over six thousand works.

Tiqets

Klook

Museum of Contemporary Art and Design

A museum in Costa Rica established in 1994. It shows Central American contemporary art and design together with international work.

Tiqets

Klook

Plaza de la Democracia

The Plaza of Democracy and the Abolition of the Military, laid out in 1989 on the fortieth anniversary of the decision to disband the army. It steps down beside the National Museum, and craft stalls line the upper edge.

Tiqets

Klook

Our Lady of the Pillar Cathedral, Alajuela

The Catholic cathedral of Alajuela, the second city of Costa Rica. It is the mother church of the diocese of Alajuela, created by a bull of Benedict XV in 1921, and grew from a small chapel of 1782.

Tiqets

Klook

Fortín de Heredia

A small round brick tower of 1876 on the corner of the central park, raised as a lookout and armoury and now the emblem of Heredia. Its gun ports widen outward rather than inward, a builder's mistake the town has enjoyed ever since.

Tiqets

Klook

Trending now

Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

Parque de Diversiones

An amusement park opened in 1981 whose profits go to the National Children's Hospital, the purpose set by the doctor who proposed it. Four roller coasters run here, the largest being Bocaraca of 2005, alongside a reconstructed village of old Costa Rican buildings.

Tiqets

Klook

Museo de Cultura Popular

A folklore museum at Santa Lucía south of Barva, in the adobe farmhouse of a former president. It is furnished as a nineteenth-century coffee farmer's house, with the kitchen worked by staff in period dress and coffee grown in the grounds.

Tiqets

Klook