Mercado Central

The Mercado Central opened in 1880 and has been in the same block since, a covered warren of narrow aisles holding something over two hundred stalls: butchers, fishmongers, spice sellers, flower stands, leather workers, herbalists selling bundles of medicinal plants, and a good number of sodas wedged into corners serving casados and chorreadas to people standing up. One of the coffee counters has been roasting and grinding since the nineteenth century. It is loud, tight and entirely functional, and it is the best place in the capital to eat cheaply and well. The building is a declared architectural heritage site.

What you actually see

• The sodas - lunch counters wedged between the stalls.
• The coffee counters - roasting and grinding since the 1800s.
• The herbalists - bundles of medicinal plants sold by name.
• The aisles themselves - two hundred stalls in a nineteenth-century block.

When to go

Year-round, weekdays and Saturday mornings; it closes on Sundays. Lunch between eleven thirty and one is when the sodas are at full pitch. Mornings are best for produce.

Honest expectations

It is crowded and pickpocketing is common, particularly around the entrances; carry little and stay aware. The surrounding streets of central San José warrant ordinary caution and are best avoided after dark. The market is genuinely tight and can feel overwhelming. Some sodas are far better than others; look for queues of office workers.

Nearby

The gold museum and Teatro Nacional are ten minutes east; Barrio Amón is north.