Is San José Safe for Solo Female Travelers?

Solo travel

I really didn’t like San Jose at all. Especially traveling solo as a woman. I was assaulted because i was wearing a non gold, but golden necklace. My neck was scratched open and I was pushed to the ground in plain daylight, in the middle of a busy street. The police was standing next to me and didn’t even react. In General I was catcalled a lot, I felt I was being observed and followed and avoided going out. I’m sure that there are nicer areas than the ones I was in but I really had no good time. BE CAREFUL ALWAYS! and don’t wear any jewelry!

Solo travel

I felt good, I stayed at URBN Escalante and it was 1000/10. I recommend not staying too many days in San Jose and instead visiting other places like the beaches. Costa Rica in general is very expensive, like the USA. I loved Cacique Guaro.

Group travel

I would recommend using San Jose as a jumping off place instead of a place to spend lots of time in. It’s definitely the easiest place to fly into and there’s buses and other flight you can take from san jose. I would recommend only staying a night or two in san jose.

Solo travel

Overall pretty safe, the food towns are nice and nightlife is fun. Selina is a good hostel to stay for sure. Usually a place used to bounce around different locations in the rest of the country. But still fun!

Try not to carry many things of value like laptops or iPads. If you visibly look a foreigner (wearing travel gear and carrying backpacks) I'd be specially careful, try to travel as light as possible. If you are visiting the more touristic and transited sites of San José, I'd say the city is relatively safe to walk through up til 7-8 pm but after that I'd be careful, specially since some zones are more dangerous than others, mostly in terms of robbery. You should be mindful of your surroundings ALWAYS, if someone stops you in the street trying to talk to you out of nowhere, thread with caution. If you are looking to experience the nightlife, depending on the club you go to, you might need to keep a close watch on your phone and wallet.

I won’t walk in San Jose alone at night, during day time I would only use my phone when urgent or quick things. I would rather use uber instead of public transportation. Sexual harassment is becoming less common but there’s still a long way to eradicate this