San José

Costa Rica’s Capital

San José is the capital of Costa Rica, head of the province of San José, and the nation’s largest city. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation. The population of San José Canton is 288,054, though the metropolitan area stretches beyond the canton limits and comprises a third of the country’s population. Culturally, the city can be considered almost entirely European influenced, in part because of Spanish immigration soon after Costa Rica’s discovery by Christopher Columbus, and the privileged classes which generally studied in Europe during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.