Costa Rica capitals

San José became the capital of Costa Rica on May 16, 1823. This puts it among the youngest capital cities in Latin America. Costa Rica’s capital has its location in Central Valley. The Central Valley is within the western province of the country. San José is within the municipal land covering an area of 44.2 square kilometers of the land. It is 1,150 meters above the sea level and close to the historical cities of Heredia and Cartoga.

Currently, the population of the capital city stands at approximately a quarter of the total population of the country at around 333,000. The metropolitan area has a population of over two million people. San José is one out of the 82 cantons in Costa Rica. In fact, it has the highest population in comparison with the rest of the cantons.

San José is a favorite tourist destination and stop-over for many visitors. Some of the tourist attraction sites include the National Museum, the Gold Museum, the National Theater and the Jade Museum, and countless parks such as La Saban Metropolitan park, Parque Okayama, and Parque de la Paz (Peace Park). Besides the parks, markets such as the Mercado Artesanías offer traditional Costa Rican products to visitors to San José. Another important tourist attraction in San José is the Stone Sphere. It is the country’s icon of cultural identity.

The climate of San José is a tropical wet and dry climate. Its temperatures vary between 23.7 degrees Celsius in April and 21.8 degrees Celsius in October. The driest month in a year receives about 6.3 mm rainfall while the wettest month receives 355.1 mm rainfall.