Barrio Amón

Barrio Amón was laid out in the 1890s by a French coffee entrepreneur and became the district where the families who ran the coffee trade built their houses, in whatever European manner was fashionable: Victorian timber with iron cresting, art nouveau, neoclassical, some of it prefabricated in Europe and shipped over. Enough survives to make a walk of a few blocks worthwhile, with a number of the houses now boutique hotels, restaurants and galleries, and a run of street art on the blank walls between them. It is the only part of central San José that rewards wandering, and it is quiet in a way the rest of the centre is not.

What you actually see

• The coffee-baron houses - Victorian, art nouveau and neoclassical villas.
• Casa Amarilla - the yellow neoclassical building with a ceiba tree outside.
• The street art - large murals on the blank walls between the villas.
• The converted hotels - several of the houses open as places to stay.

When to go

Year-round, in daylight. Weekday mornings are quiet. Two hours covers the walk. Combine it with the National Museum or the jade museum, both a short walk south.

Honest expectations

Many of the houses are in poor repair and the district has lost a good deal to demolition and to concrete infill; it is a scattering rather than an intact quarter. As with the rest of central San José, it is fine by day and should not be walked at night. There are no formal sights, only the buildings themselves.

Nearby

The National Museum is ten minutes south; the Mercado Central is fifteen minutes west.