What locations in or near San Jose (Costa Rica) should I scope out on my imminent vacation to further fuel my expat fantasies?
January 23, 2011 11:31 AM Subscribe
What locations in or near San Jose (Costa Rica) should I scope out on my imminent vacation to further fuel my expat fantasies?
My partner and I fantasize a lot about moving to Costa Rica (climate, cost of living, lifestyle change, and most importantly - it has no military!). We're about to go on vacation there, and we figure that we ought to spend a few days scoping out potentially liveable places to fuel (or deflate, if necessary) our migration fantasy.
My task: figure out where to book our hotel (or hostel, or whatever) for a few days in San Jose so that we can check out the neighborhoods and nearby areas (perhaps a good town or something outside of the city that's still very accessible?) that would most likely work for us if we ever decide to make our fantasies reality.
My question: Where should we stay, and which neighborhoods and nearby areas should we check out while we're there?
Details on our priorities:
• We're city folk at the moment, and neither of us drive or want to have to. So, anywhere we live has to be liveable with only public transportation, bicycles, and rare use of car service.
• Safety. I'm a short white woman, and I need to have good odds of being okay when coming home alone at night.
• Community. I wouldn't want to live in some expat-only community, but I'd want to live somewhere friendly, and I want to know where the expats are so I can have people to talk even before my language skills catch up.
• Food! We love to cook. We love good butchers and markets. We love groceries with obscure Asian ingredients (especially Sichuan ones; I'd cry myself to sleep every night if I couldn't find those).
• Space. We'd rather live further out than be super cramped in our apartment.
• Not super expensive.
My partner and I fantasize a lot about moving to Costa Rica (climate, cost of living, lifestyle change, and most importantly - it has no military!). We're about to go on vacation there, and we figure that we ought to spend a few days scoping out potentially liveable places to fuel (or deflate, if necessary) our migration fantasy.
My task: figure out where to book our hotel (or hostel, or whatever) for a few days in San Jose so that we can check out the neighborhoods and nearby areas (perhaps a good town or something outside of the city that's still very accessible?) that would most likely work for us if we ever decide to make our fantasies reality.
My question: Where should we stay, and which neighborhoods and nearby areas should we check out while we're there?
Details on our priorities:
• We're city folk at the moment, and neither of us drive or want to have to. So, anywhere we live has to be liveable with only public transportation, bicycles, and rare use of car service.
• Safety. I'm a short white woman, and I need to have good odds of being okay when coming home alone at night.
• Community. I wouldn't want to live in some expat-only community, but I'd want to live somewhere friendly, and I want to know where the expats are so I can have people to talk even before my language skills catch up.
• Food! We love to cook. We love good butchers and markets. We love groceries with obscure Asian ingredients (especially Sichuan ones; I'd cry myself to sleep every night if I couldn't find those).
• Space. We'd rather live further out than be super cramped in our apartment.
• Not super expensive.
While Costa Rica as a whole is a breathtakingly beautiful place, much of San Jose is not beautiful AT ALL. Escazu and Santa Anna are reportedly nice if somewhat suburban and expat-y, but I can't speak from personal experience. There are some smaller towns nearby (Heredia, Santa Barbara) that you might want to explore, but based on my limited time there: a) they are also not particularly lovely; b) a car is required to get to most places. (That said, we stayed at Finca Rosa Bianca in that area and absolutely loved it. The nature is beautiful, it's just the towns that are a bit on the grubby side.)
posted by onepot at 12:41 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by onepot at 12:41 PM on January 23, 2011
I have a specific lodging recommendation for you - B&B Grecia. Denny, the owner, is an expat from Canada and was very knowledgeable about the area. He provided us with a lot of insider travel tips, and we talked at length about his decision to move and buy property in Costa Rica. At the very least, Grecia would probably be a good home base to use for exploring the area.
I'm not sure if Grecia itself is what you are looking for, but I think it could be a good option. It is maybe a 30 minute drive out of San Jose (depends on traffic, of course). It's known for being the cleanest town in Costa Rica. The town itself has a language school, and we ran into both expats learning Spanish and local students learning English. There is a large square right in the middle of town, and they do markets there. You will most likely have everything if you move within walking distance of the town center, but I am not sure what the public transportation is like in Costa Rica as a whole.
Finally, I can't say I ran into any Asian food ingredients in all of Costa Rica, but maybe Denny's partner would be a good person to ask, as she is from somewhere in Asia (haha, I know it's a big place, but I honestly can't remember where). Be prepared to have a family member ship you your sriracha though!
posted by smalls at 1:16 PM on January 23, 2011
I'm not sure if Grecia itself is what you are looking for, but I think it could be a good option. It is maybe a 30 minute drive out of San Jose (depends on traffic, of course). It's known for being the cleanest town in Costa Rica. The town itself has a language school, and we ran into both expats learning Spanish and local students learning English. There is a large square right in the middle of town, and they do markets there. You will most likely have everything if you move within walking distance of the town center, but I am not sure what the public transportation is like in Costa Rica as a whole.
Finally, I can't say I ran into any Asian food ingredients in all of Costa Rica, but maybe Denny's partner would be a good person to ask, as she is from somewhere in Asia (haha, I know it's a big place, but I honestly can't remember where). Be prepared to have a family member ship you your sriracha though!
posted by smalls at 1:16 PM on January 23, 2011
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posted by wooh at 11:58 AM on January 23, 2011