The Best Places to Drink and Stay in San José Costa Rica

Upstairs from a lively cantina, this cocktail bar occupies a building that has been standing since before Costa Rica had paved roads, its original wooden walls and floors still intact. Stainless steel counters replace a traditional bar, and a visible lab with high-tech equipment lets you watch the team turn local corn, bananas, and coffee into inventive signatures alongside the classics. A Spirited Awards regional honoree and a 50 Discovery pick.

Exposed brick and parquet floors greet you in the lobby of this boutique-ish downtown hotel, which lends out bicycles and means it. A rooftop garden, Chesterfield sofas, and a vintage neon sign give it an industrial-chic feel without trying too hard. The 91 rooms run simple and clean upstairs. Breakfast is included, the fitness center is there if you need it, and the Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels. San José is often a stopover, but this one makes the stop easy.

Perched above the Valle del Sol with city lights flickering in the distance, this boutique hotel sits a thirty-minute drive west of downtown San José in the mountains, which is most of its appeal. Rooms channel the golden age of Costa Rican coffee culture: leather chairs, Art Nouveau headboards, Indian cotton linens, and private terraces big enough to actually use. The Spanish colonial meets poured-concrete interior is an unlikely pairing that the place commits to fully.