Total San Jose Tour: Bites and Sights Including Columbian Gold Museum Visit

Make the most of your day in San Jose! This tour takes our usual Bites & Sights Tour and combines it with a trip to a pre-Columbian Gold Museum for the ultimate Costa Rican cultural experience.

Get your cameras ready because you don’t want to miss a single moment of this colourful local experience. On this San Jose tour, you’ll get up close and personal with Costa Rican life, through local food, history and even the herbal remedies of folk medicine. Enjoy a hands-on lesson on exotic plants, fruits, vegetables and the smoothies they can create in the midst of the vibrant city markets. Nothing could get you closer to authentic San Jose than strolling through the streets with a local as they show you the ins and outs of daily life. Take a wander through the city with us on this tour that takes typical San Jose and turns it into a local experience you’ll never forget.

Your San Jose tour starts with a morning pick-me-up cup of coffee in a café located in the Borbons market, where you’ll get to know your guide and relax into your surroundings. From here, we’ll take a stroll through the vibrant market, tasting local fresh fruits while learning about the agricultural history of the area. We’ll visit a number of stands, from a coffee stand where we’ll learn the Costa Rican chorreado brewing method, to a local folk medicine stand where we’ll learn about curing everything from a hangover to a broken heart.

Your tour continues along local roads towards the Central Market. There’s no better place to experience local cuisine than the Central Market, a 120-year old building full to the brim with typical Costa Rican food and drink. Here you can sample local delicacies, learn about the herbs used in local medicines, or simply sip on more Costa Rican coffee. The Central Market is an experience that no visitor the San Jose should miss, and with a local guide by your side, you’ll unearth all the secrets behind this San Jose treasure.

We’ll refuel from all that exploring with a lunch stop at one of the most historic coffee shops in San Jose.

After lunch, we’ll visit a museum that’s home to some 1,600 pieces of gold artifacts, dating back to 500 CE. In Costa Rican history, gold was considered a symbol of authority, and the items in the museum display the craftsmanship of the pre-Columbian period.

By the end of your tour, you’ll be full of local knowledge, from food to culture — but if you want to see, do and eat more, be sure to ask your local guide for more tips on things to do in San Jose.