San José

San José is the capital everyone rushes through on the way to a volcano, which is unfair and also understandable: the volcanoes are right there, framing every avenue. But the Valley's chilly-warm capital rewards the traveller who pauses — with the continent's finest pre-Columbian gold and jade under museum glass, a Belle Époque theater paid for in coffee, and a market where the country's whole harvest perfumes the aisles.

The sensible traveller gives her one honest day: the Teatro Nacional's gilded tiers, the Gold Museum under the plaza, a casado lunch at the Mercado Central among the saints and the spice stalls, and the boutique-coffee crawl through Barrio Escalante at dusk. Then, yes: Poás's crater one morning, Irazú's moonscape another — every road does lead to a volcano.

The Guide's honesty: pura vida is real and so are the prices — Costa Rica is the region's expensive one, budget accordingly —; downtown empties and dims after dark: dinner in Escalante or Amón, taxi between; and the city is a base, not the destination: love her briefly, then let the country have you.