San José · Backpacking

There is no central bus station: the Caribbean goes from the MEPE terminal, the southern Pacific from Tracopa, the north from Atlántico Norte. Check which terminal your route uses before you book a bed — MEPE publishes its own fares and times, for example ₡6,985 to Puerto Viejo.

The Central Valley volcanoes, Cartago and the craft towns are all inside two hours by public bus, so you can see a lot without paying for a second base. Buses leave early and fill, and each route has its own terminal, so confirm the departure point the day before.

Plaza de la Cultura, Parque Morazan, Parque España and the Amón streets make a genuinely good hour on foot and cost nothing. Do it in daylight; the same route after dark is not recommended.

The sodas on the side streets off Avenida 2 do a casado for roughly ₡3,000–4,500 at lunch, around half what the same plate costs in Escalante. They serve at midday and shut in the late afternoon.

A hostel dorm in Amón or Los Yoses runs roughly ₡10,000–16,000, a soda lunch ₡3,000–4,500, city bus rides a few hundred colones each, and the Museo de los Niños ₡3,000. A day here costs less than a day almost anywhere else in the country, which is the whole argument for basing yourself in it.