San Jose City Tour: Experience Authentic Culture and Historic Landmarks

Experience the vibrant culture and rich history of San Jose on this authentic city tour. Visit iconic landmarks, enjoy folkloric music, and explore the Central Market and Gold Museum.

Duration: 5 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Teatro Nacional Costa Rica - Lobby of Theater
  • Central Market (Mercado Central) - Shopping, local people.
  • Plaza de la Libertad Electoral - National Monument
  • VIP City Bus - Beautiful tour, monuments, churches, market, walking tours.
  • Pre-Columbian Gold Museum - Walking tour by Gold Museum
  • Museo de Arte Costarricense - Gold Room
What's Included
  • Local guide
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Lunch
  • Professional art historian guide
  • Live commentary on board
  • Transport by air-conditioned minivan
What's Not Included
  • Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
  • Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
Additional Information

This urban exploration gives you a panoramic perspective of San Jose, enriched with an authentic cultural immersion courtesy of our onboard traditional music. The journey incorporates informative guided strolls around significant historical points of interest such as the National Theater, the National Monument, and various others including San Jose’s…

Location
Teatro Nacional Costa Rica
Second Ave. and Fifth St.,
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.4
(263 Ratings)
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Michelle_o
Aug 29, 2024
Excellent historical tour! - Our tour Guide was so informative. We are history buffs so this tour was an amazing overview of the founding fathers, Civil War and government. The Gold museum was fascinating and the market was amazing to see. Great fun day and the double decker bus was perfect for viewing the city.
Review provided by Viator
Reginald_j
Aug 28, 2024
Must attend tour - The tour guide explains the story of the country the drive getting us around safely the museums were beautiful with all the gold in it
Review provided by Viator
Alexandre_b
Aug 26, 2024
Enrique was awesome! - Enrique, our tour guide, was sensational! Very knowledgeable, patient and professional!!!! We had a great time.
Review provided by Viator
Linda_g
Aug 8, 2024
A must do if in San Jose - A great tour seeing and learning about San Jose from our passionate guide. A must do if you are in town. The lunch was great and the bus was an excellent choice for transport.
Review provided by Viator
Nicole_o
Jul 26, 2024
Hassle free fun! - So much to see and learn at the museums and Central market. Lunch was incredible. Attentive tour guide.hotel pick up & lunch. Great value for what is offered.
Review provided by Viator
Sharon_r
Jul 16, 2024
San Jose is a hive of activity! - Interesting sights, excellent guide, lovely lunch, hotel pick up on time. Recommend this day trip to see San Jose!
Review provided by Viator
Irish_kiwi77
Aug 26, 2024
Good way to see the sites of downtown San Jose - This tour is a good way to see some of the sites around San Jose and also see the good and bad parts of the downtown area. Most of the travel is done in the double decker bus. You get to visit the national art museum (used to be the original airport terminal, the cathedral, national theatre (you only get to see the foyer area), visit the national monument and then visit a local market. After this you go to lunch and have a traditional dish, which was nice and then the final stop is the national gold museum, which for me was the highlight of the tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Joel_c
Aug 10, 2024
Tico sights! - Interesting tour, especially about the history of Costa Rica and tour guide was very knowledgeable! The only negative was all the time spent in the bus, trying to fight the traffic! But at least the wifi worked, unlike some tours! I could not have seen all the sights we saw , so very worth the $$!
Review provided by Viator
Carmen_h
Aug 18, 2024
Art Museum & City Market FUN - We really enjoyed the art museum and the city market. However, it was very obvious that our tour guide from VIP City Bus Tour was not thrilled with his job. He was not engaging at all.
Review provided by Viator
Richardp448
Jun 29, 2024
Take a Pass on this Bus tour - Better Ways to See these sights. Bad Value - You will spend $152 USD for a couple to see four stops. You will see the National Theater, the Art Museum, a shopping market, and the Gold Museum. You will eat a mediocre lunch at an average restaurant. It will take nearly 6 hours. You can do it cheaper and better taking an UBer to each location and doing things at your own pace. Postives - (1) The tour guide Enrique is nice and explains things in both English and Spanish. (2) The bus takes you to key major sites of interest in San Jose. Negatives - (1) NO A/C. The bus has no air-conditioning or was broken. Regardless, it should be fixed. The windows are open and the seats are dirty from going by trees and having leaves and dirt come in through the windows. It is hot and humid inside the bus. (2) Wasting Time doing nothing but waiting. Unfortunately, in group tours, there are always inconsiderate people who cannot be bothered to show up at the agreed-upon time. The tour should leave on time, and if people do not show up, they should be left behind. However, the bus and guide dutifully wait for the late people of the group, and you will waste 10-15 minutes per stop waiting on the inconsiderate people who cannot be bothered with punctuality. For the unfortunate tour guide and considerate passengers, you have way too much idle time. (3) No admission to the National Theater. We went and looked at the National Theater and went inside the entrance, but there is a 1-hour tour that has tickets that are not included and you are told if you have time you should come back and do it on your own. This is very sub-optimal. You waste time seeing the outside and the lobby but never actually see the theater or the key aspects of it. Bottom line - for $100 you could take a private UBER or taxi to each location, go at your own pace, get tickets to the National Theater and have a proper tour, and do all of the same stops and a better restaurant at your own pace and probably do it all in 4 hours instead of 6. So, it is a waste of both time and money. There are better ways to see these sights in San Jose.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 12 guests
1 Adult
October 2024
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