San Jose Stopover (Original)

Hola and welcome to Costa Rica! A welcome pack will be waiting at the hotel including all the information you need for your tour. With over half the country's population living within its parameters, San Jose is a bustling capital city with lively markets, intriguing museums and a dynamic atmosphere. A good place to start exploring is the main plaza – ideal for some people watching. Artisanal booths are common here and you never know when there'll be a spontaneous art fair. If there's time, perhaps have a look at the Gold Museum and see its amazing collection of indigenous gold art, or head to the outdoor markets at Plaza de la Cultura and Central Market, where you can buy anything from handicrafts to seafood.

Rise early and meet your local leader at the Borbons Market for a food tour. There’s no better place to experience local cuisine and the colourful characters that sell it than at some of San Jose’s bustling marketplaces, full to the brim with traditional and fresh Costa Rican food and drink. Here you can sample local delicacies, learn about the herbs used in local medicines, and hear about the unique chorreado coffee brewing method while sipping on your second (or even third!) coffee of the day. Your expert local guide will take you past different stalls, tasting as you go, so you can better understand the coffee and food culture of Costa Rica and unearth all the secrets hidden in the markets. Who knows – you may even have the opportunity to test out the local lingo!

Get ready for another early start, this time meeting another local leader near Espana Park. There’s a lot of ground to cover today so the group will be meeting at 7 am sharp. Grab a cup of coffee and then take a 10-minute hike into the hills of San Jose, arriving at the Atlantic Railroad, where you’ll hop on a train. This scenic 45-minute journey travels past the San Jose University campus, through coffee plantations and deeper into the mountains. At the end of the journey lies beautiful Cartago – a historic town where many of the locals still get around by bike, and what you’ll be doing too! Saddle up and then cycle the streets, stopping to visit the key sites with your leader. Pull up at the Cartago Central Market for another round of delicious local food before catching a local bus back to San Jose. The rest of the afternoon is yours to explore. Perhaps freshen up and get back out into San Jose this evening with dinner in the trendy Barrio Amon.

With no activities planned for today, you are free to leave the accommodation at any time, provided you comply with the hotel’s internal check-out times.