Calle 3 and Avenida Central y Segunda, San Jose, 1000, Costa Rica; 800- 949-0592 in the U.S., 2221-4000 in Costa Rica,
Rates: $85 (double room) to $185 (master grand suite).
Stay here if you: don’t mind a fan instead of an air conditioner and want a convenient if slightly noisy room in central San Jose for a night or two before taking that predawn trek to the airport to catch the 6:30 a.m. flight to Denver. And have a cup of coffee. The Gran Hotel is required by law to serve Costa Rica’s finest.
It’s close to: Teatro Nacional, Plaza de la Cultura, a pedestrian mall full of shops (and pickpockets), and less than an hour’s drive from the airport.
The rooms are: spartan but relatively comfortable; some guests complained about the hard mattresses on the room’s two king-sized beds; modern showers, satellite TV and minibar. Internet access is on the hotel’s top floor, next to a recreation room.
They put all of the money into: a recent renovation that preserved the 1930s-era bathtubs and the historic lobby. The Gran Hotel, established in 1928 by the Constitutional Congress of the Republic of Costa Rica, has historic landmark status. There’s a capable pianist playing from afternoon to evening in the hotel restaurant, and the curving lobby bar is a winner.
The bottom line: The Gran Hotel is a safe place to stay in a city that most tourists view as a brief pitstop between the airport and Costa Rica’s beaches and cloud forests. With notice, the pleasant staff will serve a small version of the sizable breakfast buffet to travelers leaving before the buffet officially opens.
Claire Martin
