West of San José, past the airport, the hills of Alajuela are covered in coffee. This guide is for you if you want a short day among the farms, perhaps on the day you land or fly home. It covers what to book first, which start time to choose, what to look for in Grecia and Sarchí, and how to fit the day around a flight.
Book the coffee tour first
This is the one thing to settle before anything else. The farm tours run at set times, and the coffee tour itself is not part of our price. Choose your farm and your time, book it, and tell us. We plan the day around it, with the drive to the farm taking about 45 minutes from your hotel.
A farm tour covers the plants, the mill and the roaster, and ends with a tasting. If you care about seeing coffee being picked or processed rather than just the plants, ask the farm directly what is happening in the month you travel. What you see depends on the season.
Morning or afternoon
The tour lasts six hours and starts at 07:00 or 13:00. Your choice depends mostly on the farm's tour times and on your flight.
- Arriving in the morning? The 13:00 start lets you land, drop your bags and still see the farms. Check with us that the timing works with the farm you choose.
- Flying out in the evening? Take the 07:00 start and ask to finish at the airport instead of your hotel. Tell us when you book.
- No flight that day? Pick whichever start matches the farm tour you want.
The weather matters less here than on a volcano day, but it still counts. Costa Rica's tourism board gives the Central Valley a dry season of roughly December to March and a rainy season of roughly May to October, with a short dry spell around the end of June. In the rainy months carry a light jacket for the walk through the plants.
Grecia and its red metal church
Grecia is a farming town at about 1,000 metres. Sugar cane, coffee and pineapple are grown around it. The reason to stop is the church of Our Lady of Mercy on the main square, painted deep red and built entirely of metal.
The decision to build it was taken in 1890, with advice from Monseñor Thiel, the second bishop of Costa Rica. Metal was chosen because it would stand up to earthquakes. The prefabricated parts were made in Belgium and shipped over, and a local coffee grower and exporter, Alejo Jiménez, helped pay for them and handled the import. The plates are riveted together, and the building is Gothic in style, with two towers.
Walk right round the outside to see how the plates fit together. If the doors are open, look inside.
Sarchí and the painted oxcarts
Sarchí is where the painted oxcart, the carreta, is still built and painted by hand. To understand why it matters, start with coffee.
From the middle of the nineteenth century, oxcarts carried coffee from the Central Valley over the mountains to the Pacific port of Puntarenas, a journey of ten to fifteen days. Their wheels are solid discs rather than spokes, which helped them through the mud. Painting began in the early twentieth century. Each region had its own patterns, so you could tell where a driver came from by his wheels, and each cart was built to ring with its own chime as it rolled.
UNESCO added Costa Rica's oxherding and oxcart traditions to its list of the intangible heritage of humanity in 2008. It also notes that the number of artisans trained to build and paint the carts has fallen sharply. When you visit a workshop, you are seeing a craft with fewer hands every year.
In the main park stands a giant oxcart, built in 2006 and about 14.5 metres long. Take your photograph there, then spend the rest of the time in the workshops. Anything you buy is not included, and you can stay as long as you like while your driver waits.
On your own, or with a driver
Grecia and Sarchí are small towns, and you can reach them by hire car. The farm tour needs booking either way. The case for a driver is the shape of the day: three stops on country roads, a tasting at the first one, and, on a flight day, an airport run at the end with your bags already in the vehicle.
The vehicle and driver are yours for six hours, with fuel, tolls and parking covered. The price depends on the size of your group; see it on the tour page.
Who it suits
It suits coffee drinkers, families, and anyone who wants an easy day with short drives. It also suits the first or last day of a trip, because everything is close to the international airport.
If you want a volcano as well, ask for Poás as a longer day. Poás tickets must be booked online for a set time, so tell us when you book. For a full day on the mountain instead, see our Poás and La Paz Waterfall Gardens tour.
Questions people ask
Can we choose the coffee farm?
Yes. Book the farm tour you want and tell us the farm and time, and we plan the drive around it.
Can we just shop in Sarchí?
Yes. Spend as long as you like in the workshops and shops.
What if there are more than 16 of us?
Two vehicles travel together on one booking. Message us and we will price it.
Can we cancel?
Yes. Cancel up to 24 hours before pick-up and you are refunded in full. See our cancellation page.
Booking the day
Book the farm tour first, choose the start that fits it and your flight, and leave room in your bag for coffee. For the other days out of the capital, see our guide to day trips from San José. The stops and pick-up areas are on the coffee farm, Grecia and Sarchí private tour page, where you choose the size of your group and book.
