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I always like to look around at markets and market areas. I´m interested to look at the local crops, products and handicrafts. So we visited one of the markets in San José. We also did some shopping for our long bustrip from San José to Managua, like fruits, bread and drinks. There was a lot of choice.Visiting this market, it was the only time during our four week trip in Meso-America that someone was following us for a while, staring at our bag and pockets.
A great typical souvenir to buy is without doubt the Costa Rican rocking chair. They can easily be folded, put in a box an be taken home by air. As long as you do not have too much overall weight you don't need to pay extra. We brought home two chairs put in one big box. No problem at all. A good price is between 80 and 115 USD for one chair. However, there are places where you'll pay more.
The town of Sarchi is close to the Poas volcano and is about 1 hour away from San Jose. To get to it you have to pass through the neighboring town of Grecia. Many tour buses stop here after a visit to the Poas volcano. The appeal of this town is that there are many souvenir shops and furniture stores which offer handmade goods. You can find handmade painted bowls, tables, jewelry boxes, statues, crafts and paintings. In fact, in one out of the way shop we watched as a craftsman created a clay statue that could actually be played like a flute. He then played one of his creations for us. There are also shops selling the carreta or traditional oxcarts. These traditional carts were very important in the mid 19th century when they were the only means to transport coffee beans over the mountains and to the coast. Today, trucks and trains are used for transportation and the carts are used in...
It's the last day of your trip and you want to pack up on gifts for familly and friends (a little for yourself too), head for the turtle Depot in Alajuela. A big big big store filled to the top with gifts for everyone: hats, t-shirts, jewels, paintings, sculptures, mirrors, furnitures, kitchen utensiles, cofee, candy, papers, pens, books, crafts. I could go on and on! Everything, althought it could be difficult to find that unique hand-crafted never-seen-before art piece. Everything else: go crazy!Quality is fair, but not every items are top-of-the-line. The prices are very good compare to about any other places we've been too (can't speak for Sarchi though, never been).
But a few shops here to gather momentos and gifts in Puerto Jimenez. A cute and of good quality store (with the most looked for attraction: conditioned air!) with friendly staff is located just on the side of the air strip. It's worth a stop to look at books, cratfs and jewel, mostly local and unique. in town, on the main road, a few little shops with the typical arts and crafts, one being located in the back of the Carolina restaurant. And an interesting art store, with great paintings and wood sculptures, located near the bank.It's hard to giftshop in Puerto Jimenez. You'll find hardware, kitchen utenciles, shoes or chainsaw more easily than a cute little souvenirs. A few good pieces, but the interesting one are very expensive. If you can afford it, the fish wood sculpture are amazing. The painting are gorgeous. Jewel, from the cheap to the best.
Not too far from the Gildar hotel is a big shopping mall. By taxi it takes about 5 minutes and you will pay around 800 colones (2.15 USD).Next to several shops, there are a couple of banks with ATM, a foodcourt, a supermarket and a movie theatre.We were there on a Sunday and it was open until 6 pm. sporting goods, men's and women's clothes, electronics, shoes
If you like coffee, don't go home without buying the excellent Costa Rica coffee. Most hotels have free samples in the rooms to try. You can buy the coffee in the supermarket, but if you have the opportunity to visit Cafe Britt plantation, buy the coffee in their shop. There are several flavours that you can try first.
Cafe Milagro in Manuel Antonio. Freshly roasted whole-bean and ground coffee. However, you can get great Costa Rican coffee all over the place. If you are a java drinker, bring some Costa Rican coffee home with you (preferably shade-grown, organic coffee so you aren't contributing to the deforestation there). It's great. Don't remember, but it wasn't expensive.
In restaurants, you will find this vegetable salsa on every table, and that's how we discovered this, in our opinion, delicious salsa. By the end of our trip we were so hooked on it that we bought a big bottle at the supermarket to take home with us. Now I'm wondering why I only bought one bottle :-(. In a supermarket, you'll pay about 1200 colones (2.5 USD) for a big bottle (700 ml)
I put this in the "gifts" category as opposed to the "food and drink" section because of the wonderful shop attached to the plantation. There are many different types of articles ranging from pottery, to videos and CD's, art, souveniers, textiles, clothing and more. There really is something for everyone, it's well-run, the employees are friendly and helpful, and check-out is efficient. And don't forget to take the tour, which is also an excercise in comic relief! All in all, a great place to stop and shop Of course, there's the coffee. Plenty of samples abound so that it makes it easy to choose. As a former owner of a gourmet coffee business, I can well attest to the quality of the coffee here. The organic shade grown is among the best I have had. They make coffee easy to purchase with many different shipping choices, and it's quite reasonable. I intend to keep purchasing over the...
Hotel AmaTierra Provincia de Puntarenas
191 Opinions
Grano De Oro Hotel San José
2 Reviews and 495 Opinions I arrived at Hotel De Oro on December 28, 2008 at lunch with 3 other friends. We decided to have...
Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa Provincia de Guanacaste
864 Opinions
Reviews and photos of Costa Rica attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Costa Rica sightseeing.
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Q: Can anyone recommend something, moderately priced, w/ pool & a/c?
A: Banana Azul is wonderful. You should wait until September and October for the best weather there. Samasati is also very nice, a wellness center.
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