San Ramon Costa Rica – wonderful people, great coffee, perfect weather! We are an ever changing and evolving city with a population of at least 100,000. We are one of the larger Central Valley coffee towns set in a beautiful valley enclosed by lush and fertile mountains of blue and green, and sometimes just white as the clouds settle in. Centrally located on the Pan American Highway, an easy 45-minute drive gets you from San Jose’s International Airport (actually in Alajuela!) right to San Ramon, a one hour will whisk you to the Nicoya Gulf and the Central Pacific beaches, and in 1 1/2 hours you will see Volcan Arena picture perfect in the distance and enjoy the nearest hot springs. The mountain towns of the Costa Rican Central Valley are known for their wonderful climate, hailed by National Geographic as “the best climate in the world” over 20 years ago, and we still agree! San Ramon, with its picturesque mountain setting and average year-round temperature in the mid-70sF (25 degrees C), epitomizes the character and comfort level that we have come to expect from the Central Valley mountain towns, which include Grecia, Atenas, Naranjo, and nearby Palmares.
We believe that out of the entire country, San Ramon and the surrounding mountain towns provide the best Costa Rica has to offer. The San Ramon that visitors see today is a “muy tranquilo” provincial city that welcomes travelers with a graceful sense of pride. It is a close-knit city with a slower pace of life, yet with all the comforts of a modern city. In the streets you will hear the greeting “Pura Vida” (pure life) a motto that encapsulates the pervading ideology of living in peace and appreciating a life surrounded by nature and family and friends.
Known as the “city of presidents and poets,” San Ramon was home to many of the political and literary leaders of Costa Rica including four former presidents and architects of the modern Costa Rican state, the most well-known being Jose (Don Pepe) Figueres Ferrer, one of Costa Rica’s most influential leaders. A little known fact is that his first wife, Henrietta Bogg, hailed from Alabama in the United States. CLICK HERE for a bit more info on this truly amazing woman.
San Ramon is home also to a branch of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), so some like the idea of it being a bit of a University town. We also have a major hospital, several private health care centers to choose from (very affordable) and numerous international and local restaurants, banks, internet cafes, a new 3-cinema movie theater with stadium seating, even a mall (just bring an umbrella when it rains… indoors)! Yet San Ramon retains all the charm of traditional Costa Rica with a slow-paced family-centered way of life. The weekly farmer’s market features an abundance of locally grown fruits, vegetables, and flowers, our local Cafe-de Altura sells coffee right at the factory, and driving down any road will take you out into the mountains, or to a single too narrow lane through a coffee field that is only good for the legendary ox-carts of Costa Rica.
As some areas of Costa Rica are becoming over-developed, San Ramon and the vicinity is a unique gem just being discovered by an International community craving a real Costa Rican experience and a different way of living… Pura Vida!!!