Best cities to live in Costa Rica

amourdelavie wrote:

hello  yes in Tamarindo lots of thieves....
can you tell me about a rental with one bedroom and all equiped kitchen  ,living space with a terrace  and a pool  and in a protected community
I speak Spanish ,French,English,Italian and brazilian Portuguese are these languages useful here
monica

Try Heredia Hills,,, Cheaper than  the Gringo areas and LOVELY  VIEW  area , homing many surgeons who do not want to live in yucky San Jose yet on the freeway from here can be there in 20 minutes. (20 minutes also from the airport. 10 mins to town of Heredia..
It has Mild Springlike  sunny weather year round.

If you want to browse the area I will show you around
I took a nice couple from this site and we had an incredible inexpensive garlic Shrimp for lunch $12 with all trimmings ) in our village .They fell in love with the area and climate.
If onterested PM me
( One bedroom apts.urnished here go from $ 400 to $500 monthly including WIFI and utilities  POOLS are not too popular because heating them costs $$$ so are usually  COLD Brrrr  (Public pools here are heated )
Deb

about 1 hour from San Jose central without traffic   (copied from TicoTims post (quote button  did not work)
Tim :
In Heredia we have all  that you listed ,  and more ( including Pricemart ) Walmart .Country Club and Mall) and LOWER prices
My Electric Bill is never over $40 Monthly, Water $10. interenet WIFI $36 (they have cheaper now)  Cooking Gas is $12  (And I have Main house + 2 rustic houses and 3 apartments on my 3 acres So A LOT cheaper .
and last time I drove to your area when I was considering moving there , with no traffic it took almost 2 hours (My jet was not handy) and I don't drive like a grandma. Are you talking by jet ? Lol
The roads may have improved in 25 years but traffic has increased (

San Ramon/Berlin  both these towns are in my opinin to be be the easy going life style that a lot of expats are looking for espically if your retired. 45 min from the airport,pricemart,Wallmart and many more shops and atractions. Berlin is abouve San Rmon and is perfect for those looking for solitude and safety. the climate is cooler and the people are easy going and friendly.

davidraycr wrote:

San Ramon/Berlin  both these towns are in my opinin to be be the easy going life style that a lot of expats are looking for espically if your retired. 45 min from the airport,pricemart,Wallmart and many more shops and atractions. Berlin is abouve San Rmon and is perfect for those looking for solitude and safety. the climate is cooler and the people are easy going and friendly.

This is not to knock Berlin in any way, as it is a fine place to live. I only wanted to emphasize that it gets quite cold and windy there at times, not just "cooler". Of course, that is relative. It's not NY or Chicago cold! Just be advised that it could be cooler than you'd hope or would have imagined for a place in "tropical" Costa Rica. The same thing can be said about parts of San Ramon and other surrounding areas in the mountains where it can get downright cold if you're used to a southern state or California weather.

This is advice I give to people looking for property or a place to live in Costa Rica:
Carry a working altimeter (they can be gotten fairly inexpensively in the U.S.) and check the altitude for every property you look at and every town you are considering living in.

Why? Because in Costa Rica, altitude has a big effect on weather. If you're at 500 feet it's going to be HOT. If you're at 2500 feet it's going to be less hot (and probably breezier and cooler in general).

Altitude plays a very important part in Costa Rica weather but it's not the only thing. Costa Rica has many micro climates where it can be different weather than a place just 1km away. For real!

There are wind patterns, fog patterns, rain patterns etc to be aware of.

Great tips! I'm in the research stage and this will come in handy.

I am flying into San Jose, single, alone, (beyond adult!  lol) July 23, 2016.  Very interested in researching the area with thoughts and hopes of relocating with my 2 dogs.  Any information would be Greatly appreciated!!


Thank you!!

Sandi Howard

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@ samboni > I invite you to go through this whole thread, members shared their opinion on the city that they considered best to live. It might help you.

Do not hesitate to create new threads when you have some specific questions to ask, it will help you to interact more effectively with the members.

Have a nice day,

Priscilla 

Thank you.

Puerto Viejo, but that's only if you want to really live in paradise and not next to Walmart. I didn't move from the states to be right next to the same old things.

It depends on what you are searching for! Looking for a big and amazing beach, surf lessons, relaxing day in a nice restaurant, quite night life and people of different nationalities? I live in Tamarindo and we have all that and more to offer here!