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Avenida Central, Calle 1 and 3, (formerly Hotel La Gran Via), San Jose, 1000, Costa Rica
of people enjoy staying here
4 Opinions
'Paella' and salad
Correo Central
National Assembly
Rio Sucio in Braulio Carrillo National Park
We usually drive our selves when on vacation even in hard to drive places. Is it recommended to rent a car when traveling in Costa Rica (we are only looking to drive from the airport to Arenal and Monte Verde) if so whom should we rent a car from. If it is really not recommended then how should we transport our selves (a family of 5) from one place to the other?
Check with your hotel staff in CR to see if they can recommend you to a reputable car rental service that offers a driver with it. That's the safest way to go around CR & see the country.
Good Luck & Enjoy Beautiful Costa Rica!
I just got back from Costa Rica, where I drove myself. Personal seurity isn't much of an issue, so you shouldn't have a problem driving yourselves around. I don't have any specific recommendations on rental companies in San Jose, but National, Hertz, etc. are all available.
Have a great trip!
All known international rental companies are in CR. Rent at the airport so you can drop off there too. Driving is safe, & no hassle. Get a good map (Michelin) and drive near the Volcanoe that are inland. At night you can see the Lava glow orange from far away.
We were in CR in March and drove all over -please be careful we were robbed twice they get in and out of the rental cars no problem! Don't leave a thing in the car. We were told they have master keys- and the cops do nothing. Have fun it's a beautiful country and we had a great time other than that.
I would love to go back the the Arienal volcanoe..the volcanoes are the BEST...honestly everything about Costa Rica is great. well...I miss the people, they are so nice and friendly. i miss the way the air smells when you are at the beach or the mountains. I miss the way the food tastes, so natural and healthy, but most of all I miss my girlfriend.
Sometimes doing and receiving international phone calls was not that easy, even if you are doing it from a five-starred hotel. A few times my international calls got cut with no apparent reason and the telephone cards offered a little amount of minutes (as for me, I could only call 10 minutes to Peru with a 3000 colones' card). At that moment, the cheapest way was calling through the Internet, but now it's more convenient to use MSN and chat.
As for the internet, the cheapest way is going to the internet cafes located around Avenida Central, in downtown San José. The fee per hour is in average 500 colones (around US$1.5).
Located one-hour far from San José, river La Paz forms five amazing waterfalls. Templo, Magia Blanca, Encantada, Escondida and La Paz.
You can visit them by contacting La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which offers a trail to see all or some of them, it's your choice. The entrance fee for adults are US$24.
San José has a quite nice system of buses covering the principal routes from downtown to other areas and vice versa. The price is cheap (100-130 colones depending on the route) and it's comfortable.
There are also near four bus stations, from which Coca Cola is the most relevant since from it depart most of local buses and transportation to other provinces and touristic areas, also at cheap prices (I got a round-trip of 1500 colones to go to Quepos, to spend the weekend at Manuel Antonio beach, and the trip was OK). However, you should be careful of not being alone at night at this place, because you could be the victim of some people trying to fool or steal tourists.
For backpackers and people with tight budgets, this is the option. Automercado's prices are less expensive than average, and you could find anything you want: fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, milky products, seafood, wine, and all the stuff you find in a supermarket.
I went to the Automercado at Multiplaza Mall, but you can find AutoMercados at:
- Plaza del Sol (in Plaza del Sol Mall)
- Los Yoses (next to Mall San Pedro)
- Centro (around Parque Morazán)
- Plaza Mayor (in Plaza Mayor Mall)
- Multiplaza (Multiplaza Mall)
- Tibas-Moravia (400 m. west Colegio Lincoln)
- Heredia (north of police station, autoroute to Barva) What you cannot miss here is buying coffee. My favorite coffee-related product was Britt's grains of coffee covered by chocolate. It was delicious, but please don't eat them at night, because your tireness may be gone :-)
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