San José Tour: Theatre, Gold Museum and Specialty Coffee

Highlights

• Discover the history of San José on a semi private guided tour
• Visit the National Theatre and learn about its history
• Explore the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum and see ancient artifacts
• Enjoy a specialty coffee tasting in Barrio Escalante
• Learn about the city's history and culture from your guide

Description

Begin your tour at the Plaza de la Cultura, the living room of San José. See street musicians, pigeons, and office workers on their break. Admire the best angle of the theatre. Your guide sets the scene here, with the Gran Hotel and the old telegraph building around you.

Next, head to the Teatro Nacional. Outside, see neoclassical columns, marble statues of Beethoven and Calderón de la Barca, and a pediment crowned by three figures. Inside, admire Italian marble stairs, a gold-leaf foyer, a 1,140-seat horseshoe hall, and, above the staircase to the foyer, the Allegory of Coffee and Bananas, the painting that later filled the back of the five-colón note.

Your guide will point out the mistakes in it: the painter, Aleardo Villa, worked in Milan in 1897 from notes sent across the ocean and never set foot in Costa Rica, so he painted coffee bushes growing at sea level and a man carrying a bunch of bananas upside down. The guided visit runs about 35 minutes with the theatre's own guides, and may be shared with other visitors.

Next, head underground to the Museo del Oro Precolombino. Three levels below the plaza, inside a landmark of brutalist architecture, the Central Bank keeps about 688 pre-Columbian gold pieces: frogs, eagles, shamans, and jaguars cast with the lost-wax technique. Nine thematic rooms walk you from the first settlers to the eight Indigenous peoples of Costa Rica today, with ceramics, stone work, and life-size dioramas. The same ticket opens the numismatic collection, from the banknotes of private banks in the 1800s to today's coins.

Finally, head to Barrio Escalante, the city's food and coffee quarter. Close at a specialty coffee house that works with micro-lots from family farms and small mills. The barista asks what you like, then brews you two cups from different regions, farms, or filter methods, so you can taste altitude and process side by side. Pastries and extra drinks are on your own, and you can buy beans to take home.

Includes

• Gold Museum ticket
• Theatre visit
• Specialty coffee tasting
• Fully tailored tour
• Live tour guide

Excludes

• Pastries and extra drinks

Important Information

• Theatre visit may be shared with other visitors Pastries and extra drinks are not included Pickup available any hour between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tour duration is about 4 hours

Easy cancellation

Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund