Costa Rica Central Valley Activities

SAN JOSE ACTIVITIES

San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, is a hive of activities, landmarks and other attractions guaranteed to stimulate any tourist's interest. Founded in 1738,  now renowned for it's art, architecture and furious commerce, it is a frequent and attractive stopover for foreign visitors.

LANDMARKS
The city’s landmarks include the National Theater of Costa Rica (the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica), La Sabana Metropolitan Park, the Melico Salazar Theatre and the Cathedral. Other landmarks include Central Park and the Plaza de la Cultura, and the Banco Central de Costa Rica Building, the largest building in the city which dominates the skyline of San Jose. Avenida Central is also a hugely significant commercial area and pedestrian thoroughfare.

The Hotel Presidente is another San Jose landmark, a four-star hotel with one hundred rooms, located in the heart of the downtown area, and ideally situated mere blocks away from many of the city’s most important historical and cultural landmarks.
The National Theater of Costa Rica was opened to the public in the late 19th century, with performances held several times a week, including sessions by the NSO (National Symphonic Orchestra), which features both Costa Rican and foreign composers. The Melico Salazar Theatre is a much less elaborate affair, yet nonetheless features a complete schedule of musical concerts, plays and recitals.
 
Other examples of deliberately preserved landmarks include the Banco Credito Agricola de Cartego, the Cementario de San Jose (San Jose Municipal Cemetary), the Quiosco del Parque Central (San Jose’s Central Park) and the Tobias Bolanos Airport, located on the Pavas suburb of San Jose. San Jose also has a fascinating mix of architectural styles, from Spanish to North American.

WEATHER
Classified as a tropical rainforest climate by the Koppen Climate Classification System, the temperature in San Jose, yet it’s elevation gives it a much milder climate than expected from such a label. The temperature ranges between fifteen and twenty eight degrees Centigrade (fifty nine to eighty three degrees Fahrenheit), and while the rainy season falls between April and late November, it is not uncommon for rainfall to occur out of season as well, with strong wind also lowering temperature on many occasions. Humidity tends to be between 60 and 90 percent.

ATTRACTIONS
San Jose is filled to the brim with tourist attractions and activities. In addition to the many landmarks mentioned above, there are numerous cafes and museums, bars and clubs, as well as the Lankester Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of the city.
San Pedro’s Calle de la Amargura has many bars, discos and restaurants, with food and drinks at fairly low cost, primarily due to it’s close proximity to the University of  Costa Rica, to whose students it predominantly caters; “Sand Live” is a large concert hall and inside and outside bar famous for it’s staging of extreme metal and rock concerts/shows; Pueblo Antiguo is a family-friendly theme park modelled on the San Jose of the 19th century, filled with museums and located inside the enormous Parque de Divisiones de Costa Rica complex, while El Pueblo is an eclectic collection of over fifty art galleries, bars, clubs, restaurants and shops. The Simon Bolivar Zoo showcases a whole host of animal species endemic to Costa Rica, including white-faced monkeys and iguanas.

MUSEUMS
The Gold Museum features gold artefacts from ancient Latin American civilisations. Other museums in San Jose include the Museo de los Ninos (The Children’s Museum), the Museo de Ciencias Naturales La Salle (the Natural History Museum), the Museo del Colegio Superior de Senoritas (Women’s Education and History Museum), the Museo Criminologico (The Criminology Museum), the Museo de Cultura Popular (Museum of Popular Culture).
Anybody who enjoys strolling around museums taking in the sights will be overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety of these attractions in San Jose.

HISTORY
Formed just a little over two hundred years ago, San Jose became the capital city of Costa Rica after the country was given independence from Spain in 1821, although this was not without it’s troubles from other cities. In 1837, a coalition of other cities within Costa Rica attacked San Jose, resenting it’s status and growing popularity. Needless to say, the battle – referred to as La Guerra de la Liga (the War of the Leagues) ultimately saw victory go to San Jose.
 
Originally, San Jose’s main industry was tobacco raising, but it was the coffee industry boom that brought culture, prosperity and refinement to San Jose in the mid 1800s, rapidly becoming a middle class city with brick roads, tramways and kerosene lamp illuminations. San Jose instituted public telephones ahead of most of Europe, and was only the third city in the world to install public electric lighting. By the early 1900s, plazas, schools, monuments and features such as the still existing Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica were being built.

VOLCANOE'S
Not far from San Jose is the famous Arenal Volcano, one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world. Tourists simply cannot visit San Jose or Costa Rica in general without taking a trip to this extraordinary natural wonder, which spews burning hot rocks down it’s slopes and belches out large ash columns over it’s crater on almost a daily routine. Occasionally, there are even spectacular pyroclastic avalanches – fast-moving hot gas and rock streaming down the volcano. Since it reawakened from it’s four hundred year sleep with an eruption in 1968, it has been almost continually active. One of the world’s most exciting volcanos, Arenal is a must-see for any visitors to San Jose.

Volcano Irazu The highest volcano in the country. It's possible to see both oceans at once. On its slopes there are strawberry cultivations. There is a smell of sulphur on its top.

Its main crater is round shaped and is filled with green water with sulphur and measures 1050 metres of wide and 300 metres of depth. The second crater Diego da la Haya has 600 metres of width and 100 metres of depth. The other craters are: Playa Hermosa, El Piroklastico and La Laguna. The name Irazu (Iztaru) derives from the language of Indians which used to live under its slopes. It means "a thunder" or "the place that shakes".

Volcano Turrialba It`s the most eastern tip volcano of the Cordillera Central (the second volcano in the country in respect of meters above sea level -3.339). It has been active since 6.300 BC. In colonial times it was nicknamed by Spaniards as Torre Alba "white tower", because of its eruptions gave the impression of a huge white tower. It has three craters. The catastrophic eruptions happened also in 1723, 1847, 1853, 1855 and 1861. Now scientists claim a new eruption might be expected.

In March 2001 around the volcano there were some tremors and shakes felt by the surrounding towns. Many residents of the nearby area were afraid that maybe the new cycle of activity, but the scientists claimed the shakes had nothing to do with that.

All in all, San Jose is an ideal town for vacationers and is great central location to do one and two tours through out Costa Rica.