6 Days in San José, Costa Rica
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The Trip
Immerse yourself in the rich aroma of fresh coffee as you explore San José’s vibrant markets and lush plantations. This is more than a trip; it's an intimate experience with Costa Rica's coffee culture, guided by passionate locals. Enjoy personalized concierge services throughout, ensuring every detail is taken care of as you taste the heart of this beautiful country.
Your Host
Experience the warmth and expertise of local guides who know Costa Rica inside and out. With their deep connections to the coffee culture and passion for sustainability, you’ll explore vibrant markets, lush farms, and the best coffee spots. Their insights will enrich every moment, making your time in this beautiful country truly unforgettable.
Hayley Krolik
Trip Host & Creator
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Where You'll Stay
2 properties selected for your journey
Your home base in the heart of downtown San José — an iconic boutique landmark with murals outside and Costa Rican art within, a few minutes' walk from the Museo Nacional and the city's best dinner streets. Daily breakfast is included, and the rooftop at Azotea Calle 7 is made for a sunset cocktail. Your stay runs June 20–22.
A small inn on a working organic coffee farm in the hills above Heredia — a National Geographic Unique Lodge, with hand-painted rooms, a spring-fed pool under a waterfall, and the El Tigre Vestido restaurant and El Targuá spa on site. This is your base for the back half of the trip.
The Itinerary
Investment
per traveler · all hosted experiences included
Jun 20 – Jun 25, 2026 · 5 nights
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You will not be charged a deposit or trip payment until your application is accepted and you confirm your attendance on the trip.
Reserve
Reply to reserve your place. We will walk you through the details and hold your spot while you decide.
Join the WaitlistWhat's Included
Where the trip begins — Alma de Café, the café inside the National Theatre. We'll gather over coffee and breakfast, meet your local guide, and walk through the week ahead before heading out into the city. If you land on an early flight that morning, come straight to the Hotel Presidente first — drop your bags, freshen up in the lobby, and a Byline rep will be waiting to walk the group over together. Your room is ready in the afternoon, so you'll settle in after the day's first activities. Arriving a day early? You're welcome to book an extra night at the Presidente directly.
A walk through the Mercado Central with your guide — a covered maze of fondas, flower stalls, spice counters, and shops selling beans by the kilo since the 1880s. We'll taste handcrafted sorbetera-style ice cream at Lolo Mora, a historic ice cream shop and chorreada, a traditional tortilla snack from one of the "soda" restaurants.
A guided morning at the National Museum, in the old Bellavista fortress — the turrets still carry bullet holes from the 1948 civil war that ended with Costa Rica abolishing its army. You'll come in through the butterfly garden and move through rooms of pre-Columbian gold, jade, and the country's history.
Lunch at Nuestra Tierra, a San José institution done up like an old Tico farmhouse — burlap sacks, lantern light, servers in traditional dress. Hearty country cooking on banana leaves: casados, gallo pinto, and agua dulce poured at the table — an unfussy first taste of Costa Rican home cooking before the afternoon's pottery.
An afternoon at a small, intimate ceramics studio, shaping clay by hand in the Chorotega tradition, one of Costa Rica's oldest crafts, with an expert artisan from Guanacaste. You'll leave with a piece you made yourself.
Dinner at Sikwa, chef Pablo Bonilla's restaurant built around Costa Rica's Indigenous food traditions — Bribrí cacao, Maleku ferments, ingredients you won't find on many menus. Served as a set tasting menu.
Breakfast is included with your stay — a buffet in the Las Américas restaurant, served 6:00 to 10:00. With an early start ahead, just be sure to eat before the day's activities.
A private morning on Lucidia’s small organic farm in Tarrazú — she owns Tierra Amiga and walks you through it herself, cherry-to-cup: picking, depulping, drying, roasting, and tasting what you’ve just made. Hands-on and unhurried; the small-farm counterpoint to the bigger estates later in the week.
A home-cooked lunch from Lucidia’s own kitchen at the farm — traditional Tarraceño cooking, served with the coffee you watched her harvest and roast that morning.
Dinner upstairs at Azotea Calle 7, the rooftop on top of the hotel — shared Latin plates and cocktails with the city lights and the valley peaks around you.
Breakfast is included with your stay — a buffet in the Las Américas restaurant, served 6:00 to 10:00. With an early start ahead, just be sure to eat before the day's activities.
A private tour of Doka Estate on the slopes of Poás — home to the oldest coffee wet-mill still working in the country. You'll walk the mill, the drying patios, and the roastery, then taste a flight of their single-estate coffees.
Lunch at Chubascos, a family-run mountain restaurant in the Fraijanes highlands — straightforward Tico cooking (gallos, casados, trout) in a garden setting, and a real local institution.
Your welcome dinner at El Tigre Vestido — a tasting menu the kitchen builds entirely around coffee. It runs through every course: cold-brew leche de tigre over fresh-fish ceviche, coffee oil on pejibaye tartare, slow-cooked pork ribs in a coffee-and-guava sauce, chicken in a coffee-and-dark-chocolate mole, and flambéed mango with pejibaye ice cream to finish.
Breakfast is included with your stay — served from 7:00 to 10:30. Just be sure to eat before the day's activities.
A morning walk through Finca Rosa Blanca's own organic, shade-grown farm — across the slopes, through the processing area, and into the seed-to-cup story, ending with a tasting of their micro-lots. A different lens than the bigger estates: small, organic, and right where you're staying.
Lunch on the El Tigre Vestido terrace — light, seasonal plates with the coffee rows in view.
A second dinner at El Tigre Vestido — a different seasonal menu, the property's coffee running through it, the gardens just outside.
An easy walk on the property as the light goes gold — shaded paths through the organic gardens and coffee up to the mirador, where the view opens across the valley to the Poás and Barva volcanoes.
Breakfast is included with your stay — served from 7:00 to 10:30. Just be sure to eat before the day's activities.
A morning of ziplining with Canopy Adventure, a family-run outfit flying the cloud forest on Volcán Barva since 1998 — ten cables and thirteen platforms, including a run over a waterfall. A bit of a thrill and a welcome change of pace from the coffee farms.
One more lunch on the El Tigre Vestido terrace before the afternoon's coffee tour.
The tour that made Costa Rican coffee famous abroad — Café Britt runs a polished, theatrical walk through the country's coffee story, ending in a guided cupping of their roasts. After a week of small farms, it's the big commercial bookend, by design.
The last dinner, at El Arca — a tasting menu inside a botanical garden outside Heredia, seasonal and garden-driven, with the greenery and birdsong all around.
Breakfast is included with your stay — served from 7:00 to 10:30. Just be sure to eat before the day's activities.
What's Not Included
An early walk with the finca's naturalist guides, who track well over 150 resident and migratory species across the property — good for anyone into birds, photography, or just a quiet start. Optional, and an easy pace.
Treatments at El Targuá, the finca's spa — coffee and chocolate scrubs, volcanic-mud wraps, hot-stone massage and more, booked per person ahead of time. The slower alternative to the Barva morning.
Transportation
We handle the logistics so you can focus on the experience
Your concierge
A real person who helps arrange this trip around you — shaping the itinerary and booking the details — then stays on hand to execute it while you travel.
Molly W.
Concierge
