Sidebar #60 - San Jose Province

For my next several “sidebar” blogs, I’m going to highlight all of the provinces in Costa Rica on an individual basis. Fortunately, I’ve had the chance to set foot in all of them; however, I’ll admit that my expertise in each varies quite a bit. San José is undoubtedly the province in Costa Rica that I possess the most familiarity with. Peace Corps Costa Rica has volunteers scattered across all 7 provinces, but during my entire time in Costa Rica, both while in Pre-Service Training and at site, I have lived in San José province.

San José province most notably contains San José, the capital city of Costa Rica. San José is colloquially referred to as “Chepe”, and someone from the area can be called “Chepeño” or “Chepeña”. San José is undoubtedly the most urban of Costa Rica’s 7 provinces although it extends down to the more mountainous Pérez Zeledón region of Costa Rica. In Pérez Zeledón, you will find Costa Rica’s highest elevation: Mt. Chirripó. Many Peace Corps Volunteers climb Chirripó as a Costa Rica bucket list item.


With almost 1 and a half million inhabitants, San José is by far the most populous and population dense province in Costa Rica. As a landlocked province, San José doesn’t have many of the major tourist hotspots on the beach like other coastal provinces do. Most of its attractions lie in San José proper, including Teatro Nacional, La Sabana Park, Mercado Central, and the National Museum. Because of its cultural and political significance to the rest of the country, I absolutely believe that San José is worth a visit in order to truly understand Costa Rica.




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