San Jose is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. It is also the capital of the province and canton that include the city.

Four districts of the 11 that comprise the canton of San Jose can be said to form the "downtown" central core of the city. These districts (Catedral, El Carmen, Hospital and Merced) cover a combined area of 9.47 km? (1), and have a population of only 60,201 (2). The Greater Metropolitan Area of San Jose (Gran Area Metropolitana), however, has an estimated population of 1,611,616 (2), which is 37% of the country's total population.

San Jose lies at an elevation of 1,161 meters above sea level (1) in the Central Valley (Valle Central), near the geographic center of the country. Because of its late 18th-century origin, San Jose has little of the Spanish colonial architecture common in most other Latin American capitals.

San Jose has a pleasant, though at times sticky, climate all year round. Cooling rain is at its heaviest from May to November, usually in the afternoons. Coinciding with the coolest period of the year, December is the most vibrant and thus most crowded time to be in San Jose with a series of festivals leading up to New Year.

San Jose is also home to a number of galleries and museums, and there are a few neighborhoods in the city still radiating colonial style. The assault on the senses that is Chepe is perhaps your best opportunity for understanding the complexities of modern-day Costa Rica.

Wikipedia
Lonelyplanet Costa Rica 2007