Travel to Heredia - Costa Rica - Culture

Heredia - Culture

Heredia, the city, known as "The City of Flowers", has a population of 50,000 and is located 6 miles north of San Josè . The presence of many young Costa Ricans attending the local university gives the city a youthful and energetic ambiance. Many of the country's famous coffee plantations are nearby. Centrally located in Heredia, it occupies a Spanish colonial-style house.

Costa Ricans call this attractive little city "La Ciudad de los Flores" (the City of Flowers) but don't be surprised if you don't see blooms everywhere. The "flowers" are the local women, reputed to be the loveliest in a country famed for the beauty of its female denizens.

And in a country not famed for its Spanish architecture, Heredia's old adobe houses, the church and other historic buildings facing the pleasant Central Park offer a glimpse of Costa Rica's colonial past.

Heredia sits on the lower slopes of Barva volcano; some of Costa Rica's finest coffee grows in the rich volcanic soil of the surrounding countryside. Just outside the city, the Cafe Britt Coffee Tour has become one of the country's most popular tourist excursions.

A short cab ride from the center of the city in Santo Domingo is the fabulous Joyas del Tropico Hϊmedo (jewels of the tropics) exhibit - ask the cab driver for the "museo de mariposas" or butterfly museum - a breathtaking display of more than 50,000 butterflies and bugs that is both educational and just plain great to look at.

Life in Costa Rica revolves around the Central Valley, a small, fertile basin of land virtually surrounded by the the Talamanca and central volcanic ranges. More than two-thirds of the population live here and who can blame them. Those mountains and volcanoes make a mighty impressive setting, and enjoy a very advantageous climate. At around 3,500 feet above sea level, the Central Valley luxuriates in one of the world's great climates with daytime temperatures in the mid-70s and slightly cooler nights. To feel the full force of the tropical heat, you have to head down the Pacific or Caribbean slopes to the coastal plains, or go north to the plains of Guanacaste.

As well as having lots to recommend them in their own right, centrally located San Josè and its neighbouring cities of Escazϊ, Alajuela and Heredia make great bases for exploring the country, either on organized tours, in a rental car or by air.

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