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Couple of days in San José will give you an insight into the real character of the nation. The city's markets are colorful and vibrant, and its nightlife is as sophisticated as you want it to be.

San José is also home to a number of galleries and museums, and there are a few neighborhoods in the city still radiating colonial style. The assault on the senses that is Chepe is perhaps your best opportunity for understanding the complexities of modern-day Costa Rica.

What is the best time for your - San Jose Costa Rica - vacation?

San José has a pleasant climate all year round. Cooling rain is at its heaviest from May to November, usually in the afternoons. Coinciding with the coolest period of the year, December is the most vibrant and thus most crowded time to be in San José with a series of festivals leading up to New Year.

Are you looking for some events on your - Sant Jose Costa Rica - vacation?

On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture

On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture

Review

This is one of the best accounts of a place's history and meaning I have ever read. Low's book should be widely read and used in courses in architecture, urban design, planning, landscape architecture, and historic preservation, as well as Latin American studies and anthropology. What a wonderful book! (Dolores Hayden, Professor of Architecture, Urbanism, and American Studies, Yale University )

Product Description

Friendly gossip, political rallies, outdoor concerts, drugs, shoeshines, and sex-for-sale-almost every aspect of Latin American life has its place and time in the public plaza. In this wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary study, Setha M. Low explores the interplay of space and culture in the plaza, showing how culture acts to shape public spaces and how the physical form of the plaza encodes the social and economic relations within its city.

Low centers her study on two plazas in San José, Costa Rica, with comparisons to public plazas in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. She interweaves ethnography, history, literature, and personal narrative to capture the ambiance and meaning of the plaza. She also uncovers the contradictory ethnohistories of the European and indigenous origins of the Latin American plaza and explains why the plaza is often a politically contested space.

If you're in the San José area between Christmas and New Year's Eve, you absolutely have to visit Las Fiestas de Zapote, a week-long holiday celebration of all things Costa Rican - namely rodeos, cowboys, carnival rides, fried food and a whole lot of drinking. The celebration takes place in the suburb of Zapote, just southeast of the city.

The Festival de las Carretas (Ox-cart Festival) takes place every November, and is a celebration of the country's agricultural heritage. The highlight is a parade of ox-carts down Paseo Colón.

A month later on Paseo Colón is the Festival de Luz (Festival of Light), a Christmas parade marked by an absurd amount of plastic 'snow'.

Every even year, San José hosts the biannual Festival de Arte, a city-wide arts showcase featuring theater, music, dance and film. It is held for two weeks in March.

Costa Rica draws well over a million visitors every year - and you can see why. The incredibly varied topography means you can cruise a cloud forest one day, climb a volcano the next, and finish passed out on a hot sandy beach.

Search inside: Lonely Planet Costa Rica

Many Costa Rica guides provide hotel, restaurant, and arrival information, but Lonely Planet's stands out from the pack. Written by Rob Rachowiecki, an award-winning travel writer and naturalist, this guide delves into Costa Rica's flora, fauna, and nature reserves like no other. Rachowiecki's Costa Rica includes a 36-page color wildlife guide, contacts, and details on outdoor activities from kayaking to scuba diving, and bird watching to surfing. There are 54 maps of cities, towns, regions, and parks, plus a comprehensive e-mail and Web site directory, and scads of eating and accommodations options, from budget to upscale. With its rainforests, wildlife, volcanoes, and beaches, Costa Rica is among the most beautiful destinations, and Rachowiecki's guide prepares you to explore and enjoy.

- Surfing
For surfers, the Pacific coast sees increased swells and bigger, faster waves during the rainy season, peaking in the worst rainy months of September and October. The Caribbean side has better waves from November through May.

- Hiking
Wildlife enthusiasts may wish to plan their trip around high visibility seasons. The best time to spot the resplendent quetzal is between November and April. The peak season for leatherback turtles from April to May; for green turtles it's during August and September.

- Fishing
Fishing is good year-round, but you might choose your season if you have your heart set on a specific fish. Anglers head to the Caribbean coast between January and May in search of tarpon, while autumn is the season for snook. On the Pacific coast and in the Golfo Dulce, the best time to snag that sailfish is between November and May.

You need to book your San Jose Costa Rica vacation before you arrive.
Be careful and do not arrive during the high season between December and April hoping to find a good hotel.

Book your San Jose Costa Rica vacatation right now.

San Jose Costa Rica vacation