Free Self-Guided Walking Tour San José - Costa Rica

Posted: September 20, 2022

The capital of Costa Rica is a great city to explore on foot, but you don’t have to pay for a walking tour – follow my self-guided walking tour of San José instead!

I rarely take organised walking tours, free or otherwise. I think I have done only 4 or 5 of them, no more.

The sights listed here are based on my wanderings during my 13-night stay in San Jose which have been collated to give you an idea of some of the top things to see and do in San José in one day or even just a few hours.

San José officially unveiled its brand "SJO¡VIVE!" in 2018 to attract Ticos and foreigners to Costa Rica’s capital, instead of just being a place to change buses.

Here are the SJO ¡VIVE! signs in San José:

Self-guided walking tour San Jose Costa Rica

Was it successful? No idea. My hostel has a high turnover of guests, arriving and the next morning, gone.

I was based in the eastern part of the city at the TripOn Open House Hostel in the upmarket Barrio Escalante.

The TripOn hostel is one of the 3 hostels I stayed in. The Finca Escalante and the ChillOut hostel are the other 2.

I can recommend all 3 as being great places to stay. Their popularity speaks for itself. Whilst I slept, my bed was reserved on booking, so I had to move. Twice.

The Banco Nacional offers the traveller free ATM withdrawals in Costa Rica.

Estación Atlántico

So heading west, into town, first up is the Estación Atlántico, one of the oldest stations here in Costa Rica, which dates from 1908.

It was the terminus station of the line that ran to Limón on the Caribbean coast.

And whilst its importance might be lost on most of you, San José has 3 operational lines. Compare that to El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, whose railway networks have been disbanded. Panama has 2 metro lines and a tourist train, and Honduras has an unconfirmed freight line.

Travelling by train is a great way to see the country. A different point of view than just another highway. And of course, I rode one of the lines to Cartago from the Estación Atlántico

Parque Nacional

Then there is the Parque Nacional with the Monumento Nacional and the Nuevo Paradigma.

Monumento Nacional in San José, Costa Rica

Morazán Park

After that, head to Morazán Park with the Templo de la Musico and the Alas de México San José:

Templo de la Musico, Marazán Park in San Jose,Costa Rica

The "Wings of Mexico", which were presented to the public on August 1, 2017, at Parque Morazán in San José, is a joint donation from Jorge Marin, the artist himself and the Government of Mexico City.

San José is the first city in Latin American (after Mexico City) to receive these emblematic wings, which are already on display in seven other cities in the world: Tel Aviv (Israel), Berlin (Germany), Singapore, San Antonio (United States), Quebec (Canada), Nagoya (Japan) and Los Angeles (United States).

National Museum of Costa Rica

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica was established in 1897 but moved to its present location in 1950. It overlooks the Plaza de la Democracia y de la Abolición del Ejército - Costa Rica disbanded its military on 1 December 1948.

Iglesia de la Soledad

The Church of Our Lady of Solitude was built at the request of the first Archbishop of Costa Rica, Anselmo Llorente y la Fuente, in 1851. It took 30 years before it was completed. And was restored in 2012.

Estatua de John Lennon

"Imagina a toda la Gente viviendo la Vida en Paz", unveiled on November 25 2011

John Lennon statue in San Jose, Costa Rica

National Theater of Costa Rica

Work began on the Teatro Nacional in the latter part of the 19th century and was finally completed in 1897. It's no longer free to go and take a look inside.