Heredia

Heredia is called the city of flowers, a Central Valley town founded in the eighteenth century that grew on coffee and now runs into the San Jose conurbation. Its central park is the set piece: the Immaculate Conception church of 1797, low and massively built to survive earthquakes, faces the park, and on one corner stands El Fortin, a round brick tower of 1876 built as part of a barracks and never finished, whose gun loops widen outward rather than inward, which is the wrong way round and is the detail everyone repeats. The Casa de la Cultura, the old municipal building and the National University occupy the surrounding blocks. Coffee estates on the slopes above run tours.

History

The Huetar lived here under the cacique Garabito when the Spanish came, and in 1706 settlers from Cartago built a small church at a place they called Alvirilla; in 1716-1717 they moved the village north to Cubujuquí, and in 1736 it became a parish, with the first Church of the Immaculate Conception. The bishop Pedro Agustín Morel de Santa Cruz founded its first school, today's Liceo de Heredia, in 1751, the town became a villa in 1763 and was named after Alonso Fernández de Heredia, president of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, and on 31 October 1796 Father Félix de Alvarado laid the foundation stone of the rebuilt church. The municipality was founded on 19 May 1812, Heredia became a city in 1824, and the constitution of 1848 made it the capital of its province (Wikipedia, Heredia, Costa Rica).

What's there

• El Fortin - the 1876 brick tower with its inverted gun loops.
• The 1797 church - the low earthquake-built colonial church.
• The central park - the square the buildings enclose.
• Coffee estates - the plantations on the slopes above the city.

When to go

December to April in the dry season; the Central Valley is temperate year round and comfortable in any month. The coffee harvest runs from November to February. Weekday mornings suit the centre.

What to expect

The historic core is a few blocks and the rest of the city is modern and congested. El Fortin is not open to climb. Traffic between Heredia and San Jose is heavy. Museums are small.

Nearby

San Jose lies south; Barva volcano is north.

Key facts