Quesada

Ciudad Quesada is a city in the North Zone of Costa Rica. It is the capital city of the canton San Carlos in the province of Alajuela. Although Ciudad Quesada is the official name, it is commonly called San Carlos.

The city is one of the region’s main trading and business centers. It is a rapidly growing and a vivid city untouched by tourism. The city itself does not have tourist attractions but there are several hot springs in the area, some of which have developed into resorts more popular with Costa Ricans than foreign tourists.

By bus
Quesada has frequent bus connections from, for example, San José and La Fortuna (Arenal Volcano). The bus terminal is located by Plaza San Carlos about 1 km north from city center. To get to the center, get a cab for about ₡800 (colones) or walk. To reach the center by foot, walk through the shopping center (to east), then up the hill to the first crossing street, turn right (to south) and walk about 800 meters.

Get around
The city center is small enough to cover by foot. Bus network is quite good but of course requires that you have some knowledge about the surroundings.

See
Attractions are located outside the city. There are not many (or possibly none) tour operators or tourists information centers.



Buy
There are plenty of stores in the city center. Mostly selling local stuff, but some international brands can be found as well.

Eat
There are a lot of restaurants in the center of Quesada, mostly serving typical Costa Rican dishes. If you feel like having something you're eating at home as well, at least Pizza Hut and KFC can be found.

Drink
As in most places in Costa Rica, there are not many places that are just bars - usually they're also restaurants.



Sleep
As the city itself is not a tourist attraction, hotels are pretty scarce.

Up Range

 * Hotel El Tucano Costa Rica

Go next

 * San José — Capital of Costa Rica
 * La Fortuna — City where most people going to Arenal Volcano stay in.