Discover San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, from one of our Green Circle Member hotels, Grano de Oro. The city has a compact and busy city centre with narrow shopping streets. There are lots of markets where exotic fruit and vegetables are sold. A visit to the ‘Mercado Central’ is recommended if you want to experience the local city culture. Here, food and non-food articles are sold from numerous little stalls. If you’re in San Jose on Saturday morning, a visit to the organic ‘Feria Verde’ is a nice way to soak up the city’s characteristic culture.
In recent years, San Jose has undergone a facelift. Now, there’s a vibrant restaurant scene in Barrio Escalante, which is a great area to go to for dinner. It is recommended to plan a city tour through the city centre, to see the interesting, historic buildings and to get a taste of local city life.
Hotel Grano de Oro is a beautiful boutique hotel in the center of San José. The Canadian owners have been living in Costa Rica now for more than 25 years, so they call the country their home now. Their passion for hospitality and love for the city can be found in every detail of their beautiful hotel. Hotel Grano de Oro is partly located in a traditional Costa Rican townhouse that has been extended and modernized over the years, but has retained its historic charm.
The hotel’s restaurant is one of the top dining spots in San Jose and makes sure to reserve your table for the evening when you’re staying here.
This hotel is one of our sustainable Green Circe Member hotels. This means we selected them because they operate sustainably and are environmentally friendly.
Hotel Grano de Oro is one of our Green Circle Member hotels, and here is why.
When you stay at the hotel you will notice their efforts to educate guests about water and energy use, and the encouragement to recycle.
The owners are the founders of the social project ‘Casa Luz‘. This is a home where single mothers can go if they need help and support. At the project, they learn how to become independent and live a bright future. At the home, there are 10 units for young mothers and their children. Even after turning 18, they are supported until they are ready for their future.
In the city center you can admire a few historic buildings, including the Teatro Nacional build in 1928, and the national post office from 1917. There are also several museums and nice parks to sit and relax and enjoy the busy street life. Of course, you can explore the city center by yourself, but there’s also a free city tour that departs from the Teatro Nacional every day (except Sundays) at 10.00 am.
If you want to escape the busy streets in the city centre, you can go to La Sabana park. Especially during the weekends, local families gather here to relax, play and eat/drink together.
From San Jose, you can book various nice day trips. For example visit the Irazú volcano, at 3400 meters the highest volcano in Costa Rica with a beautiful blue-green crater lake. If you want to know more about cacao or coffee, you can go on a nice guided excursion. Exploring the Orosi valley and the town of Cachi are other options.
You can also drive about an hour and a half through beautiful scenery in the direction of Poas volcano. On your way, it is possible to do an interesting coffee tour at one of the oldest coffee producers in Costa Rica, Doka.
When the weather permits, you can visit Poas Volcano. A little further, you will find the La Paz waterfall gardens. These gardens with impressive waterfalls, a butterfly garden, bird garden, snake garden, and a humming garden are really worth a visit. These day trips can be done with your own rental car, you can also combine them in an organized day tour including transport and lunch.