San Ramon Resources

ACCOMMODATIONS
San Ramon:
Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast
Telephone: 506-456-4084
E-mail: AVF1@hotmail.com

For a more intimate experience of the rain forest and rural life in a Costa Rican pueblo, we suggest a stay at Angel Valley Farm, located 4 km from San Ramon in the village of Los Angeles Sur. The hotel is housed in a traditional 1950s Costa Rican farmhouse. The American owner, Andrew, purchased and remodeled the 6 bedroom, 5 bath farmhouse in 2005. The inn provides personal guided tours of the surrounding Los Angeles Cloud Forest, horseback riding, and exceptional bird-watching. In addition, the hotel staff will arrange for day tours to Arenal Volcano, San Ramon, or specialized relocation and real estate tours: Angelvalleyfarmbandb.com

Rates – Single/double US$40/60 include breakfast.

Hotel La Cima
Telephone: 506-445-

We are happy to have just discovered this Costa Rican owned hotel conveniently located to San Ramon on the Inter-American Highway minutes before the San Ramon exit. This is a nice hotel currently off the tourist radar. As we gather more information and contact details, feel free to contact us for more information about this hotel.

Rates - Double US$26

Hotel San Ramon
Telephone: 506-447-2042

Hotel San Ramon is the popular choice for Costa Rican travelers. The 27-rooms all have private bath with hot water and cable TV. The hotel is centrally located on the west side of San Ramon’s commercial district 50 mts from the Bank of Costa Rica. This would be our first choice of the three lower priced hotels in San Ramon.

Rooms are C7,000 ($13.50) for a single and C10,000 (19.50) for a double and include secure parking.

Hotel La Posada

Although this downtown San Ramon hotel has a convenient location and 1st world look and feel, we can no longer recommend it. It has come to our attention through friends and clients that the hotel's owner provides a welcoming environment for San Ramon's most infamous and notorious real estate scam artists. After personally witnessing the affects of these real estate developers on their clients and the San Ramon community, we do not recommend staying at La Posada under any circumstances. This hotel and the experience it provides is not what it appears to be.

Hotel El Nuevo Jardin
Telephone: 506-445-5620
E-mail: eljardincr@ice.co.cr

This moderately priced hotel attracts a young crowd of tourists and Ticos. Located on a busy commercial street 25 mts south of the San Ramon bus terminal, the Hotel El Nuevo Jardin is a good choice for someone interested in being in the heart of the action. The hotel features free secure parking, internet, cable TV and coffee. The large tiled lobby revolves around a lush central garden. The owner, Robin Cruz, also owns the popular tourist stop El Jardin butterfly garden, souvenir shop, and restaurant on the Pan-American Highway 5 kms West of San Ramon.

All rooms are clean and all have private hot water baths and cable TV. Make note of the fact that the bar next door gets loud and wild when making your choice. For a quieter stay, ask the manager Elio for Rooms 5 – 9 located on the back side of the hotel.

Rates - Single/double/triple C6,000/8,000/12,000 (US$11.65/15.50/23.30).

Gran Hotel
Telephone: 506-445-6363

The recently remodeled Gran Hotel is very basic, yet clean. This is a safe choice for the budget traveler. The hotel is centrally located between the University of Costa Rica and San Ramon central on a relatively quiet commercial street. Café Delicias, a popular coffee shop offering good pastries, ice cream treats and American breakfast is across the street. Internet café (50cents/C250 per hour) with relatively new machines and quick connections is next door. The 24-rooms have interior windows to the central courtyard and hot water showers.

Rates - Room, with private bath, Single/doubles C8,000 /9,000 (US$15/17.50).
Single room, with shared bath, C5,000 (US$9.50).

Between San Ramon and Arenal Volcano (The Cloud Forest):
Villa Blanca
Telephone: 506-461-0300/1
E-mail: information@villablanca-costarica.com

This tourist lodge originally built by former Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo, was recently purchased and renovated by Green Hotels of Costa Rica re-opening in December of 2004. This exquisitely outfitted and restored property is equivalent to a four star hotel. There is no other hotel in the San Ramon area in this category, Villa Blanca is located 20 km North of San Ramon at the center of the 3,000-acre private Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve. The resort’s restored large main lodge has two restaurants, a lobby bar and spa facilities. Two elegantly furnished themed sitting rooms feature panoramic views of the surrounding forest. The stadium-seating private movie theater has nightly showings of “An Inconvenient Truth” followed by first-run films. Guests stay in one of 34 private Casitas (adobe cabins) scattered around the property. Each casita features a traditional open beamed cane ceiling, large private veranda, fireplace, hot water bath, and kitchenette. The romantic wedding chapel built by the former president to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary is famous for its hand painted ceramic tile ceiling depicting Costa Rican flora, fauna, and history. The hotel provides guided tours of the surrounding Los Angeles Cloud Forest Private Reserve, horseback riding, and exceptional bird-watching. In addition, the hotel staff will arrange for day tours to Arenal Volcano & hot springs, Poas Volcano & Sarchi or the town of San Ramon: Villablanca.com

Rates – Superior/deluxe/honeymoon US$155/175/195 include breakfast.

Lands in love - Tierras Enamoradas (Formerly Valle Escondido)
Telephone: 506-475-1081/2/3
E-mail: reservations@landsinlove.com

This hotel, situated in a beautiful spot in the center of the cloud forest 32 km North of San Ramon, is owned and operated by a group of young Israeli vegetarian, animal and nature lovers. The group of friends spent a number of years searching the world before finding this idyllic, peaceful spot to settle and create theirhome, animal-friendly tourist resort and pet hotel. Since purchasing the former Valle Escondido Lodge in 2006, the group has worked hard to thoroughly renovate the buildings and grounds.

Lands in love is set among over 100 hectares (250 acres) of preserved forest, citrus groves, ornamental and vegetable gardens. Hiking trails, horeseback riding, adventure cables, cloud forest and canopy jungle tours are available. The main lodge houses a comfortable seating area, with internet, music, bar and vegetarian restaurant. The lodge opens to a terraced area with pool and Jacuzzi. The 20 spacious rooms were recently remodeled with hand-painted furniture and fixtures, kitchenettes, tiled baths. TV and WiFi.

This is an interesting and special place on many levels: Landsinlove.com
Rate - US$94/night includes breakfast

FOOD, DRINK and NIGHTLIFE:
Rincon de Poeta (our favorite)
This relatively new restaurant/bar has been a big hit since it opened. The owner Alonso and his great staff Sergio, Pablo, Gigi, Jason, Hansel, Chepe and the stars in the kitchen take good care of the crowds nightly. The large restaurant/bar is welcoming to the spectrum from 20-somethings to families and all demographics in between who come for the food and ambiance. The small bar makes it easy to socialize and make the scene. Music volume is moderate and not overwhelming as many places in Costa Rica are. The restaurant décor features changing art shows of local artists and locally crafted furnishings.

I suggest sticking to the boca (tapas) menu so you can try lots of the offerings and eat at your own pace. The bocas start at about $1.15 and top out at $1.95/C1000. There’s so much to recommend. Fresh shrimp both fried or sautéed in garlic sauce are good choices. Other winners include, seafood soup, cerviche and patacones, plantano fritters served with 3 dipping cups of refried beans, salsa and fresh cheese. Try the local liquor, Guaro, a clear, rough liquor made from sugar cane.

Rincon Poeta gets busy most nights by 7:30-8PM. Great Staff, Great Food. Great Crowd.

Mi Choza (aka Los Negritos)
A small restaurant/bar across from the cemetery. This is a quiet choice for a nice lunch or dinner and is a good spot for a couple or group.

The bocas are large, delicious and many are attractively served on wooden cutting boards. Among our favorites are the shrimp omelette ($1.50) and the cheese taco with salad and papas, yucca and plantanos fritas. The entire menu looks pretty popular with the customers. The fruit smoothies are good here and there’s a full selection of beer and liquor.

La Guaria
A way cool country bar with a loyal and rowdy local clientele who come for the big, inexpensive bocas, beer, and the lively atmosphere. La Guaria is a 5-10 minute drive from the center of San Ramon on the old Palmares Road.

The bar is where the crowd is and it’s rectangular shape makes for lots of good people watching. There’s another small room with tables and an outdoor dining area. If you get here too late, a parking spot is sometimes hard to find.

Mi Casita
If you have a hunger for something totally different, visit Francesco at Mi Casita. An Italian ex-pat recently arrived from Jaco, Francesco makes great homemade pasta. Among the menu pasta choices are Fettucine Alfredo, Bolonese, and Pomodoro at C1350-1500, but for a special treat talk to Francesco, find out what’s fresh for the day or he’ll make what you want. Mi Casita is open at 6AM for breakfast. Desayuno Tipico con café is C880. The restaurant stops serving at 4PM. Mi Casita is centrally located across from the hospital on the road to Arenal.

Rinconcito
This warm, family owned and operated open-air restaurant is a locals lunch favorite. It is open only on weekdays and only for lunch casados, or comidas tipicas. A Casado (married) is the classic Costa Rican meal. It generally includes either fish, chicken or meat with some combination of rice, beans, platanos, yucca, picadillo (minced vegetables), and cabbage and tomato salad at the kitchen's discretion. At Rinconcita the meals are huge and for C1800 (US$3.50) include a fruit drink and dessert.

Sol Naciente
A popular friendly downtown bar owned by Chinese ex-pats Kenneth and Karen. The beer is cheap and the music good. It attracts the local college students and has a hippie feel. This is a place mostly for drinking, seeing friends and hanging out. The regulars order the Chinese bocas and stop there. The chicken or pork fried rice and chop suey/Chinese stir-fried noodles are good, filling choices for $1 / C500 each.

COFFEE and DESSERT:
Café Delicias
This is the first and the best of the local coffee shops. Delicias is a few blocks East of the University and is hard to miss with its bright orange façade and corner location. The crowds enjoying their caffeine and pastries create a fun scene especially between 3:00 and 5:30PM. In a town whose social life is centered in bars, this is a good alternative.

Take a seat in the lively dining room and the staff will drop off a pencil and paper menu and you mark your selections to order. The local favorite is café con leche, a strong coffee served in a small stainless pitcher with another pitcher of steamed milk. Cappuccino and other custom coffee drinks are available. For non-coffee drinkers you can’t go wrong with the milkshakes. The delicious homemade cakes are displayed well and should be viewed before ordering. Chocolate, Carrot and Cheesecakes are among the choices. Delicias has recently expanded into serving breakfast. The omelettes look good and the breakfasts are less greasy than many of the sodas (diners) nearby.

Aroma's Café
Aromas is another good choice for coffee and dessert. It is centrally located across from the Club Social and next to Bar Sol Naciente. It also draws a good afternoon crowd for coffee, sweets and socializing. The café space was formerly the site of a Middle-Eastern restaurant and has a nice low, close to the ground seating area in the front window inherited from the former establishment. The main seating area is open with brightly painted walls and nice lighting.

The cappuccino is popular here. Our favorite dessert is the tres leches, a local classic. The brownies will satisfy your chocolate cravings and they’ll heat them up if you like.

CLUBS:
San Ramon Social Club - Club Centro de Cultura Social
Founded in 1926, the club is both a large building with multiple bars and an integral part of San Ramon history. For drinking, dancing and taking in a tradition of San Ramon, explore the club on a busy weekend night. Wander up to the 2nd floor, if you can, where you’ll find a lot of cool photos of San Ramon through the years.

Weekend nights there are 2 Latin dance clubs and I’ve been with crowds of a few hundred people in each room. One club attracts 30-40 somethings and the other a younger scene. There’s also Karaoke midweek. When the Costa Rica National Soccer team is playing, the club draws big crowds to drink and cheer wildly as the game is broadcast on many screens. There is periodic live music and special events so check out the schedule.

Secretos and System Sound Bar
These 2 bars are next door to each other just west of the central park. Things get interesting in both bars after 9PM. On a busy weekend night, the street outside looks like a scene from “Fame” with beautiful local teens and twenty-somethings in serious numbers. The music is loud in both spots.

Both bars have an informal bar downstairs and an upstairs room that hosts themed nights and live music. There’s sometimes a modest cover charge to go upstairs. System also has a limited menu of good bocas if you’re hungry. Experience both Secretos and System Sound Bar and don’t miss the lively street scene outside.

Excalibur
This has historically been the after hours club, open from midnight until morning. It is currently closed for renovations and we hear it will open under new management soon.

SHOPS and SERVICES:
The Cigar Store - For a real San Ramon welcome, Pablo and Mary Hidalgo's Cigar Store and Tourist Info is the best place in town. Since the mid-1970's, an impromptu stop at Pablo and Mary's has been the highlight of many travelers' San Ramon and Costa Rica experience.

You don’t have to have any interest in cigars to make this a stop on your way through San Ramon. You can sit and sample the fine cigars or just have a coffee and talk. I’ve seen many people plan on stopping for 20 minutes and end up spending days in San Ramon. Mary and Pablo were my first friends in town and without their support and help, it’s doubtful I would still be in San Ramon 6 years later.

As a bonus, you can learn how to roll your own cigar and take it as a free souvenir of your time in San Ramon.

Directions: If you enter San Ramon from the Inter-American Highway, continue four blocks beyond the first stop light (at Churry Gas Station) to the first stop sign. The Cigar Store is yellow building in the center of the next block on your right. Look for the large signs reading, "Free Tourist Info CIGARS." Contact the Cigar Store by phone at 445-5463 or by email: thecigarhouse@hotmail.com

Car Rental - We provide car rental with pick-up at either San Jose International Airport or in San Ramon. Our prices are very competitive and include insurance. To reserve your car, contact us: info@costaricapm.com

Galeria Sesteo - Frame shop and Art Gallery featuring local San Ramon artists owned by Jack Hung a Taiwanese ex-pat: 447-2830

NavegArtis Academica - Internet Café and international calling center immediately east of Banco Popular.

SCHOOLS:
Colegio Bilingue San Ramon - Bilingual School

Green Mountain Academy – Learning Across Borders Language School offers private and group lessons in English Spanish, French, German, and Mandarin.

Earth Education International - A multicultural experiential learning organization based in San Ramon offering short courses and semester-long study abroad programs in sustainable global stewardship emphasizing field study, volunteer service-learning work and cultural immersion: EarthEdIntl.org

CULTURAL SITES:

San Ramon Farmers Market (Friday PM and Saturday AM)
If you are lucky enough to be in San Ramon on a Friday or Saturday, don't miss the ferria/farmers market. It reflects both San Ramon's year round bounty of fruits, vegetables and flowers as well as a beautiful collection of the wonderful locals living their life. Our blog and website are full of pictures and anecdotes of our times at the ferria.

Parque Central
When in doubt, it's always a good idea to choose a bench, sit in the park and take in the scene. Grab an ice cream cone, clear your mind and experience the simple colorful life of San Ramon. Our blog and website are full of pictures and anecdotes of our daily stops at the Parque Central.


Temple Parroquial de San Ramon - San Ramon Parish Church
The San Ramon Parish Church is a majestic structure and important landmark of the Province of Alajuela. Sunday afternoon the Church is filled to capacity. After Church lets out, Ramonese flock to the streets. Families amble out the doors to the Parque Central, while the 18 to 20-somethings head to the clubs to party before Monday morning and the beginning of the work week. The Church's metal frame was fabricated in Germany by Engineer Hernan Gutierrez Braun and was transported to San Ramon in 1928. The structure was completed in 1954. The Rancho Tipico, located immediately north of the Church, was constructed in August 2006 for Fiesta Patronales de San Ramon, an annual local celebration.


Museo de San Ramon - Museum on the north side of Parque Central with exhibits on local Ramonense history and culture. (Temporarily closed for renovation.)

Jose Figueres Ferrer Historic and Cultural Center - Cultural events and exhibits supporting the history of Jose (Don Pepe) Figueres Ferrer and the ideals represented by the 1948 Civil War. The Center is located at the North side of the San Ramon Parish Church and occupies the the former Figueres family home and Don Pepe's birthplace. The Center’s mission is to facilitate, promote and sponsor the cultural and artistic development and to serve as a headquarters for the discussion of political and philosophical ideas that impulse democracy.
The Center is open Monday through Saturday from 10AM to 7PM.: centrojosefigueres.org

Los Angeles Cloud Forest - A 809-hectare primary cloud forest reserve on a diary farm formerly owned by the family of ex-President Rodrigo Carazo 20-km North of San Ramon on the road to Arenal Volcano. The central 30-hectares (75-acres) is owned and maintained by the Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel which provides guided tours of this unique forest habitat with trained naturalists for $24/person. This is a good alternative destination to the long hard drive to Monteverde. See Villa Blanca for additional information.


Butterfly Garden - A popular tourist stop 7 kilometers West of San Ramon on the Pan-American highway at the El Jardin Souvenir Shop and restaurant. This is a small butterfly farm with hundreds of Morphos, amazing orchids and other native flowers.

Las Muses - 2 pools, water slide, 100-meter waterfall and bar/restaurant.

Zarcero - A small agricultural community located in a mountainous area approximately 20-km northeast of San Ramon, midway between San Ramon and the numerous hot springs surrounding Ciudad Quesada (San Carlos). The town is famous for its unique topiary Parque Central garden. The bushes and shrubs have been cut into fantastical animal and human forms.