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San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose's walkable downtown is built around a series of pedestrian boulevards and plazas that make exploring on foot easy and rewarding. The Avenida Central pedestrian mall runs through the heart of the city past the National Theater — a lavish 1897 building modeled on the Paris Opera — and the lively Central Market, which has served San Jose since 1880 with food stalls, herbal medicine shops, and coffee vendors. The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum houses over 1,600 pieces of indigenous gold art, while the Jade Museum displays the largest collection of pre-Columbian jade in the Americas. The Barrio Amon neighborhood preserves Victorian and Art Nouveau mansions that have been converted into boutique hotels and restaurants. Escalante has become the city's gastronomic neighborhood, and the suburb of San Pedro near the University of Costa Rica buzzes with student energy and nightlife.
explore by interest
San Jose's downtown is compact and walkable, but streets can be busy — stick to the pedestrian-friendly Avenida Central and numbered side streets. Watch for uneven sidewalks and missing drain covers.
December through April is the dry season with sunny weather and comfortable temperatures, ideal for walking the city before heading to Costa Rica's national parks.