It's one of the most beautiful places to visit,you have great beaches on both sides of the country... its a 2 or 3 hour drive from san jose to those places and other cool things like the rain forest reserves and all that...and the food, dude the food is great, big native influences on the pacific side and huge caribean and african influences on the atlantic side, its a great food destination... take it from me Im a Costa Rican chef in Madrid...