Though Uber was introduced here in 2015, due to taxi-syndicate pressures (including nationwide strikes), Uber drivers are still fined and have even had their cars seized by police.
El Patio is a cluster of chic restaurants, including the excellent Valedi Food.
About a dozen mini-businesses have sprung to life in brightly painted shipping containers in Santa Ana. The effort earns high marks for innovation and reasonably priced, artisanal fast food.
A new rooftop cocktail bar is the talk of San José, with incredible city views and an exquisite, open-air garden.
A new empire of backpacker hostels has opened across many destinations, including San José, Jacó, Manuel Antonio, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Santa Teresa, Tamarindo and La Fortuna. (www.selina.com)
This new craft brewery is the first to open in Dominical, and it serves a really fantastic guanabana-infused Hefeweizen.
Jacó’s gone classy with this dainty new square, to which most of the towns’ best restaurants have recently relocated. It’s adorned in multicolored bricks, potted plants and pretty lights, and all the restaurants offer outdoor seating.
A garden designed specifically for birdwatching and photography, Batsù is a new attraction in San Gerardo de Dota (a place where not much changes). There are a great many hummingbirds, parakeets, flycatchers, tanagers and more, along with some wonderfully natural backdrops.
It’s now possible to learn trapeze in the middle of the Costa Rican countryside, with a view of a 100m waterfall, with world-renowned acrobat couple Jonathon Conant and Christine Van Loo. They’ve constructed a circus-themed paradise near the remote town of Las Tumbas, a bit north of Dominical.
Between Cañas and Liberia, the Interamericana is now four lanes. A final 27km connection between San Carlos and Chilamate – the Vuelta Kooper, which cuts north–south driving distances by 60km – opened in August 2017. One day after it opened, it (briefly) flooded.
Popular volcano hike Cerro Chato has been closed to the public due to a combination of safety concerns and political wrangling. You can still get near there on a hike, but not summit. Sigh.
For more recommendations and reviews, see lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica