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A historic theme park, of sorts, known for its massive land art, the largest of which is "El Mano" or "The Hand". There is a hike about 3 mi (or 6 mi on the longer route) to this massive statue of a hand with several other examples of land art along the way. The trails can get slippery during the rainy season, so make sure to get one of the walking sticks at the visitor center. The town within the park is one of the best examples of colonial architecture in Costa Rica.
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Known as the lungs of San José, La Sabana is the largest park in the city. It has running trails, as well as a number of sports facilities, including football (soccer) and baseball fields, basketball courts, a track, and a rollerskating rink. Find pick-up basketball games here every weekend and holiday, and sometimes during the week.
Museo de Arte Costarricense
This used to be San Jose's main airport terminal back when La Sabana was the airport.
Major theater on the western side of the city center with music concerts and dance lessons.
Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica
Beautiful theater with a Baroque/Romantic era architectural style and interior art gallery. There is a coffee shop inside followed by eccentric (theatrical) tours, which take half an hour to an hour. Performances and concerts are frequently performed here.
The Gold Museum
An underground museum below Plaza de la Cultura. The collection consists of 1,600 pieces of pre-Columbian gold work dating from 500 AD to 1500 AD. Although not of the quality seen in the Andes, the animal pieces are very impressive and make the museum a must-see for those interested in art or history. The museum explains the processing and production of the pieces as well as their social, cultural, and religious meanings. The entrance fee includes the Numismatic Museum and the Temporary Exhibition Galleries, which are inside the same labyrinthine complex. There is a nice museum shop and a tourist office at the entrance.
The Jade Museum
The museum has relocated to a large modern building next to the Artesanal Market. Most tourist maps still show the old location across from Hotel Hemingway, but the new location is 4 blocks away and closer to the Plaza de la Cultura. The brand new complex is now one of the hemisphere's premier museums and is worth the sizable entry fee. It hosts the largest collection of precolumbian jade in the Americas and explains how these impressive pieces were produced. The museum displays a wide variety of other objects made of gold, stone, bone, ceramics, and shells. There is a smattering of objects similar to those at the Museo de Oro (gold pieces) and Museo Nacional (stone spheres and ceramics). You can gain insight into the daily lives of the people in the precolumbian era with numerous bilingual English-Spanish. If you only have time for visiting one museum, this is the recommended choice, albeit the craftsmanship of the pieces at the Museo de Oro is higher.