Costa Rica’s Metropolitan Area

Costa Rica has a very curious geographical distribution. Bathed by two oceans, some will consider this a blessing good enough to consider building your cities near the coast.
However, the first Spanish settlers considered the coast unstable mostly because natural disasters like floods and hurricanes affected the first settlements.

San Jose Street, Costa Rica’s capital city.

The colonization of the Central Valley

The first colonizers decided to explore further inside the country and found what we nowadays known as the “Central Valley”. There they founded the first successful establishment, Cartago, which became later the capital city of Costa Rica for 250 years, until 1823.
Surrounded by mountains and with many rivers crossing the land, the Central Valley has become the right place for settlers. The mountains protect the area from hurricanes and the weather is cool, in contrast to the hot humid areas.
The soil is fertile. This allowed townspeople to perform agricultural and cattle activities, vital for settlements to survive and towns to thrive.
More villages and towns were founded in this area, making it the most populated one in the country since then.

Alajuela City, the second most important city in the country.

The modernization of the Central Valley

It was during the XX century that locals started to call this valley the “Gran Area Metropolitana”, in English, Metropolitan Area, because most of the country’s industry was and is still established here.
The first International Airport was constructed there, near Alajuela. Since then, most tourists have arrived in the country at this airport but many of them neglect the Metropolitan Area because Costa Rica’s tourism authorities rarely promote this area.

Music concert in San Pedro de Poas Park, road to Poas Volcano

Reasons to stay around the Metropolitan Area for a while

You are missing some good spots if you decide to skip this area to go straight to the beaches.
If you want to have a glance at Costa Rica’s popular culture, you can visit San Jose, Alajuela, and Heredia parks. Some of them are nice, others aren’t that much.
Some of these parks have statues of important people in the history of the country.
Smaller towns like Ciudad Colón, Santa Ana, Barva, Grecia, Poas, and Orosi, among others, are charming. They are on the way to attractive tourist spots, so you can spend a while on those towns for a drink or meal.
As we mentioned before there is a mountain range surrounding the valley. Many of these mountains are volcanoes inside national parks.
We have the Poas, Irazu, Turrialba, and Barva volcanoes. Previously we mentioned towns you need to pass by to get other attractions. To get to Poas Volcano, you need to go to Alajuela, then Poas first. For Turrialba Volcano, you pass near Orosi, where you can see the Cachí Lake.
To get to Braulio Carrillo National Park, where the Barva Volcano is located, you need to go to Heredia and then to Barva.

Final Notes

It is wise if you make a brief stop in these towns when on the road to your preferred natural sites. At the same time, you can check out how Costa Ricans enjoy their lives day to day. Also, you can support local businesses like pulperias (small grocery stores), cafes (restaurants specializing in serving coffee and pastry), and other amenities. These places are way cheaper than the traditional tourism oriented destinies.
Remember that we rent motorcycles. With them you can roam around Costa Rica as you please. But if you want a guide, we have guided tours on our main page ready for you.