Enjoy a beautiful day with our exclusive and 100% private tour. Our professional naturalist tour guide and deluxe transportation will pick you up directly from your hotel in San Jose. Our tour combines a vehicle tour of the city and short walks through the main streets of the capital to have direct contact with the main attractions. Our tour includes entry to the National Museum, one of the most important historical sites in Costa Rica. Here, our guide will take you on a tour of our history, from pre-Columbian times to the present. We will also visit the beautiful National Theater, Congress, the Post Office, the market area and main residential areas. Our tour includes a typical lunch with the main ingredients of Costa Rican cuisine. Our tour is the most complete. It is a 7-hour tour where you can truly get to know and appreciate our capital city.
Prices are per person when two book together; a solo traveller pays $250.
Larger groups pay less per person.
From the operator’s live schedule on Viator, checked Oct 9.
The most beautiful building in Costa Rica. Our Opera House was build between 1890 and 1897 as a cultural center and special celebrations for the high society of that time. Because it is a theater with constant activities, it is often closed for tours inside, so the visit is subject to the day of your tour being open. In case the entrance is not allowed, a visit to the National Museum will be made instead of the visit to the theater
The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum is a museum in San José, Costa Rica. It is located in a subterranean building underneath the "Plaza de la Cultura" and is owned and curated by the Banco Central de Costa Rica. The Museums of the Central Bank of Costa Rica manage, preserve, research and outreach the Archaeology, Visual Arts, and Numismatics collections of the Central Bank of Costa Rica. They offer their visitors permanent exhibitions and a dynamic program of temporary exhibits that are related to their heritage. They are housed in an extraordinary building located in the heart of San José.
San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located in the centre of the country, specifically in the mid-west of the Central Valley, and contained within San José Canton.
In 1813, the Spanish Courts gave San José the title of city and, as such, required a temple that would honor the Catholic faith. This was the reason why it was decided to build the current metropolitan cathedral. The construction of this first temple began in 1825 under the supervision of Eusebio Rodríguez, who had designed a longer and wider temple with masonry walls. The church was inaugurated in 1827 and received the title of cathedral in 1850, when Monsignor Anselmo Llorente y La Fuente was appointed the first bishop of Costa Rica.
La Sabana Metropolitan Park is located in downtown San José, Costa Rica. It is the country's largest and most significant urban park. La Sabana is considered "the lungs of San José" by Costa Ricans. Covering an area of 0.72 square kilometres (0.28 sq mi), La Sabana Metropolitan Park is adjacent to the city's core districts, offering green space and recreation to the residents of San José. Several important institutions and organizations are located within or adjacent to the park. La Sabana Metropolitan Park was officially inaugurated in 1977, though its origins go back two centuries. Manuel Antonio Chapuí, the parish priest of San José at the end of the 17th century, donated several plots of land in the Mata Redonda District "in order to favour Costa Rica's interests". Since that time, the area has been used for recreation and sports activities.
Enjoy shopping and haggling for thousands of beautiful handicrafts at the San Jose Municipal Handicraft Market, a veritable maze of aisles packed with colorful souvenirs to take home. All products offered are handcrafted by true Costa Rican artists. Here you can find a wide variety of jewelry, Wood carvings, t-shirts, hammocks, coffee and spices, bookmarks, butterflies in frames, sloth bears and thousands of other objects.
The National Museum of Costa Rica invites you to learn about the cultural and natural history of Costa Ricans, from pre-Columbian times to the present. Its exhibition rooms show the varied collections in the fields of national history, archeology and natural history, which for 135 years has been the oldest in the country. It carries out temporary exhibitions on artistic and cultural themes and has a varied agenda of activities throughout the year. The Museum is located in an emblematic building, declared Historical Architectural Heritage and a symbol of the abolition of the army in Costa Rica. In case the National Theater is closed, it will be replaced by the National Museum
We pick up at all hotels in San Jose area. If your hotel is not listed please send hotel name and address
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
Excurgo comparison of 738 Viator tours, recalculated daily.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
San Jose City Tour. Premium Experience with Lunch lasts about 5 hours. The itinerary has 7 stops.
Prices start at $175 per person for this San Jose experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. That is the per-person price when two book together; a solo traveller pays $250. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
According to the operator’s current schedule, it runs every day, starting at 9:00 AM.
Children aged 4–12 pay from $99, adults from $175. Infants go free.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
Yes, pickup is offered. We pick up at all hotels in San Jose area. If your hotel is not listed please send hotel name and address Pickup points include Hotel Portal Colonial, Courtyard by Marriott San Jose Escazu.
The experience is available in EN, ES.
It is a private experience: only your party takes part. Up to 15 travellers can book together.
Specialized infant seats are available Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Wheelchair accessible All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
Very informative tour and explanations in museums. Great lunch and conversations. Lots of interesting history and architecture
We truly appreciate your kind words and 5-star rating. Thank you for supporting sustainable tourism in Costa Rica. We hope to share more nature adventures with you soon!
Our guide, Able, was very knowledgable with positive energy. The tour provided a good overview of the culture and history of San José.
Thank you for your amazing review! We’re happy to know you enjoyed a responsible and authentic experience with us. Sustainability is at the heart of what we do, and it’s wonderful to see guests appreciate it.
My friend and I booked a very expensive private tour through Viator while we were in Costa Rica. We were anxious to see the waterfalls and the volcano that were promised as part of the tour. Our tour guide arrived 1/2 hour late saying he had a flat tire. During this time we were waiting in the sun in an open parking lot. Our tour was led by an 18 year old boy who had never led a private tour before and had never been to the waterfall site (we know this since he told us this). Although we had told him we didn't wish to go in the snake display, he ignored our wishes and entered anyway. We walked through and then had to wait for him to finish his visit. Having never been to the site, he was unfamiliar with the layout and seemed more interested in taking pictures for himself than leading a tour. Several times we had to double back on our route since he had led us the wrong way and we had to remind him to slow down since he had set a fast pace for two women well over 70. He didn't seem to know anything about the waterfalls or the history of the site. When we left the waterfalls we headed to the volcano. Even here he was more interested in talking to the Spanish visitors than giving us any information about what we were seeing. After our walk to the volcano, he suggested seeing a Gold Exhibit which was at the park that he had never seen and seemed anxious to be able to see. This was about 2:45pm. We were supposed to be at the airport (according to our schedule) by 3:30pm and we were a minimum of an hour away from the airport. We arrived at the airport about 4:15pm. Fortunately we had enough time to make our flight. We were VERY disappointed in this tour. While we did see the sights as promised, the tour guide was not up to the job. He told us he got this tour as a reward for doing well in group tours. I wish him well with his group tours, but I would not recommend him for any private tours until he has had some training on how to conduct them.
Please be advised that you have posted this review in the incorrect place and it is not a review about Greenway Nature Tours services. First, you post this review in our San Jose City Tour Private Tours. You are making a review about a tour to Waterfalls and volcano with another company. All our tours are operated in a private basis. As we can read this was a shared tour with too many other people. Posting reviews in incorrect places and companies is incorrect andthis will affect our great quality standards and excellent score with Viator and TripAdvisor. WE know you probably will not read this and even worst, you will not delete this post. For this reason we will request to TripAdvisor investigate this review and eliminate it from our page.
Excellent tour, we learned about the history of Costa Rica and enjoyed a lovely lunch. Butterflies at the museum were a nice surprise!
Thank you for the fantastic 5-star review. We're thrilled you enjoyed our activity and had a great experience with us. Your support means the world to our team. Looking forward to welcoming you back soon!
Excellent history overview of the city, province, country and region. Great value, great sites, educational and informative. Well worth it for inquiring minds, history buffs and lovers of travel.
Thank you for the fantastic 5-star review. We're thrilled you enjoyed our activity and had a great experience with us. Your support means the world to our team. Looking forward to welcoming you back soon!
National museum and theater Excellent guide Very knowledgable and personable.enjoyed lunch. Good pace for day
Thank you for taking the time to share feedback following your recent tour with Greenway Tours. It is only through your valuable comments that we are able to excel and continue to deliver the extraordinary to our guests. It was a pleasure to read that you enjoyed your trip with us and I would like to personally thank you for sharing the positive aspects of your experience. On behalf of the team here at Greenway Tours, we look forward to welcoming you back soon. Best regards,
The tour guide, Luis, was the absolute best! I wanted to do this tour as part of my birthday trip and he made our first day in Costa Roca so memorable! He was of course very knowledgeable of all the sights and even provided additional insight for other questions we had. For my time, I really enjoyed learning about the culture and seeing all that San Jose had to offer. We also had an amazing lunch with such a great ambiance. I would definitely recommend this tour for anyone going to Costa Rica whether it’s your first time or nof!
Thank you for taking the time to share feedback following your recent tour with Greenway Tours. It is only through your valuable comments that we are able to excel and continue to deliver the extraordinary to our guests. It was a pleasure to read that you enjoyed your trip with us and I would like to personally thank you for sharing the positive aspects of your experience. On behalf of the team here at Greenway Tours, we look forward to welcoming you back soon. Best regards,
Jerry was knowledgeable. It was him and us in a car. A few downfalls. The restaurant only had Spanish menu. Had no idea what I was getting. Jerry tried explaining but was not accurate. No water was given to us as in the what to expect. He took us to a private shop which was us and the shop owners which was uncomfortable to purchase something. We are not shoppers so didn’t appreciate that. Otherwise to see the city was a very private tour and was informational.
Hi. Thank you for review, but unfortunately this was posted in the wrong page. We are Greenway Nature Tours and no one of our tour guides is called Jerry. Our restaurant have English menues and normally we do not visit souvenir stores. When we visit one is the souvenirs market, a big place with many small local vendors and nice facilities. We always provide water in our tours. Our tour is a VIP experience where we include the National Museum, National Teather and the highlights of San Jose City
This tour was more than we expected. There is a lot of history in the country. Highly recommended tour.
Thank you for taking the time to review us. We're glad you enjoyed our product, and we appreciate your 5 stars review. We're extremely happy that you had a positive experience, and we're grateful for your feedback.
Luis was a fantastic guide! We learned so much about the culture and history of Costa Rica. The length of the tour was perfect, and we really enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant with authentic food. Luis was patient and very knowledgeable. The museums were gorgeous. Exploring San Jose was a real treat!
Thank you for taking the time to share feedback following your recent tour with Greenway Tours. It is only through your valuable comments that we are able to excel and continue to deliver the extraordinary to our guests. It was a pleasure to read that you enjoyed your trip with us and I would like to personally thank you for sharing the positive aspects of your experience. On behalf of the team here at Greenway Tours, we look forward to welcoming you back soon. Best regards,
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose City Tour. Premium Experience with Lunch | 5 hours | 4.6 (41) | $175 | |
 Arenal Volcano Full-Day Combo Tour with Lunch and Dinner | 14 hours | 4.9 (3,730) | $185 | View |
 Tortuga Island Full Day Tour from San José with Lunch | 12–18 hours | 4.5 (707) | $115 | View |
 4 in 1 : Irazu + Orosi + Lankaster + Lake Cachi with Lunch | 7h 30min | 4.7 (72) | $150 | View |
 Premium Tour Poás Volcano Hacienda Café Starbucks and Cascada La Paz | 8–10 hours | — | $198 | View |
 San Jose: Bites and Sights Walking Food Tour including Markets | 3h 30min | 4.8 (1,924) | $31 | View |
 Arenal Volcano Experience Full-Day Tour from San Jose | 14 hours | 4.9 (1,675) | $165 | View |