Ig photo by: adriramirez.o San Jose city on Sundays is quite peaceful, with a lot less traffic, noise and people. However, because of this, the commercial activity is a lot slower this day which makes visitors looking for things to do on a Sunday, ask themselves: where should we go? Here are some of our favorites: Outdoors La Sabana is the biggest public park in downtown. It was once an airport, but now is a big and beautiful public space where a lot of local families go spend the day, go on a picnic and do sports. There are football, baseball, basketball, tennis courts, a rugby field, and even a skating rink. Sometimes there are even free activities like zumba or aerobics classes, for that we recommend to check La Sabana in Facebook. Or just go for a walk and chill. Cultural activities
- GAM Cultural is, hands down, the best resource to find things to do on the cultural scene, they keep a pretty good eye on everything that happens in theater, dance, live music. They also have an app called Viral Agenda, if you’re staying for a long period of time it’s a good resource to have on your phone.
- National Theater is open from 9am to 4pm for guided visits, or check their billboard to see if there are also plays or shows to see.
- Museums are open!
- Costarican Art Museum is located in La Sabana Park and it’s open from 9am to 4pm. Oh, and did we mention it’s FREE!?
- Central Bank Museum hosts the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum and the Numismatic Museum inside of one of the best buildings built around the globe in the whole XXth Century, according to Phaidon’s 20th Century World Architecture Atlas. It’s open from 9:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tip: On Sundays entrance is 2×1 for Costa Rican Nationals and Residents.
- National Museum is located on the building that used to be the Bellavista Barracks, where the army was abolished in 1948. It was recently renewed and has a great display of Costa Rica’s history. It’s open from 9 a.m. a 4:30 p.m. Tip: On Sundays entrance is FREE for Costa Rican Nationals and Residents.
- Jade Museum displays five stories of prehispanic history. It’s open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tip: There’s a small room with jade pieces you can visit for FREE, it’s called El Umbral (The Threshold).
If you intend to visit all three of these museums, we recommend you buy the Museum Walk Pass and it will be 10% cheaper than if you pay their entrances separately. Independent movies Perhaps you’ve been traveling for a while and just want to chill and watch a good movie. Here’s a couple of cool movie theaters we love:
- Cine Magaly: really nice cinema, a survivor from the age where cinemas were literally “the thing to do” on weekends. Nowadays, the rest of the cinemas belong to chains and are inside of Malls. These guys are really selective with their content, you can even buy your tickets online. You can also buy craft beer on their coffee shop and bring to the movie 🙂 #paradise
- Sala Garbo: independent and vintage, this is what you’ll find in Sala Garbo. They also have some StandUp Shows (in Spanish) and live music shows. We recommend to check out their agenda on their website or facebook.
Un cafe? Coffee time is pretty sacred in Costa Rica, and Sunday’s are no different. The following are all cozy and trendy places that serve the highest quality coffee with great baristas and different infusion methods to choose from. You gotta honor the grain that brought progress to our people 🙂
Where to eat: Well, that’s sort of a big question that we will address on different blog posts. However, here’s a few recommendations for Sundays:
- Barrio Escalante has a lot of different options to choose from. We recommend that you get to the 33rd street of San José and wing it from there, walk around and see what you fancy.
- Sikwa ancestral cuisine. Here you’ll find more than just some good food, there’s a whole research project trying to rescue and bring back traditional ingredients and preparation methods from our native tribes.
- Jardin de Lolita is a beautiful food garden, family and pet friendly. It has several options to choose from for drinks, beer and food.
- Amor de Barrio is the most recent food market in town. It has a lot of places to choose from to eat or drink.
Craft Beer or Drinks
- Aguizotes is one of our favorite places. Not only our Pub Crawl starts here every week, but they have a nice selection of craft beer and Gallos (food inside of a corn tortilla, it’s like the costarican version of a taco).
- Selvatica gorgeous rooftop with great cocktails and an incredible view of the city and the Talamanca Mountain Range.
- Jardin de lolita (as mentioned above) this is a beautiful food garden, family and pet friendly with several options to choose from for drinks, craft beer and food.
- Amor de Barrio (as mentioned above) is the most recent food market in town with plenty of options to choose from to eat or drink.
- Lupulus has an amazing selection of craft beer and the food is also really good.
- Neon Ice is known for their “slushy” cocktails.
Party
- La Concha de la Lora one of the biggest and best bars in town. Every couple of weeks they have #SundayReggae, the event to go if you’re looking to dance. Check out their facebook page to check if you’re lucky.
- Bahamas one of our all time favorite spots, and it’s always open 🙂 Sunday might not be the busiest night, but the chilliguaro will always be the best in San Jose.
Remember: Support the local economy, try to buy local products from small local business. You can make a great impact while having fun! 🙂
