Related news: Bill Gates buys 6% stake in FCC through his investment funds. Madrid/London, November 6th, 2013 - FCC, the Citizens Services Group, has been chosen to reform the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela, 18 kilometers from San José (Costa Rica). FCC will construct a hangar at the country's main aeronautical facility worth 25 million euros, with a completion period of eigh...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Costa Rica´s ecotourism industry, which is committed to sustainability and responsible tourism, is preparing the fourth edition of the Planet, People, and Peace International Conference, to be held from November 3rd to 6th at the National Auditorium of the Children´s Museum. The conference will a...

The Catedral Metropolitana in downtown San José was packed on Thursday as some 3,000 Catholic faithful gathered to inaugurate the new Archbishop of San José, Monseñor José Rafael Quirós Quirós. Quirós was named the new archbishop of San José by Pope Francisco last month to lead the almost 1.8 million Catholics in the country, becoming the seventh bishop to hold that office, replacing Monseñor H...

AmaTierra Yoga Retreat and Wellness Center is a lovable destination near San Jose, www.amatierra.comThe capital city of Costa Rica has been ranked among the top five loveable cities in the world by respected British publication Monocle. San Jose is right up there with Colombo in Sri Lanka, Palermo in Italy, Tel Aviv in Israel, and Chiang Mai in Thailand. Since San Jose gets a lot of flack from lo...

The Samara Chamber of Tourism recently issued an advisory cautioning people to keep their valuables with them in the bus at all times and not to use the overhead bins because of recent thefts. “The thefts are perpetrated by people who get on the bus posing as helpers, offering to stow items in the overhead bins. They disappear with the bags before the bus has left town,” according to the advis...

A TACA Airbus A321, similar to the one which landed with a flat tire yesterday at Juan SantamariaSAN JOSE, COSTA RICA – October 19th, 2012 – An Airbus A321 belonging to TACA airlines, carrying 146 passengers and 7 crew members, skidded while landing yesterday at the Juan Santamaria International Airport, in Alajuela. The incident occurred around 4 p.m.  Hector Chaves, chief of the Costa Rican Fire...

Due to the popularity and success of its Costa Rica program, Sunwing is pleased to announce the launch of new flights to San Jose (SJO), in addition to its current flights to Liberia (LIR). Flights from Toronto will depart weekly on Fridays from December 21, 2012 to April 12, 2013. Sunwing will also be offering vacation packages, which include an excellent selection of hotels in some of Cos...

Clinica Zahha is a new, AAAASF accredited ambulatory surgery center located in eastern San Jose, Costa Rica that offers an opportunity for pristine tranquility, relaxation, and unparalleled surgeons performing surgical procedures. With two operating rooms, the ability to handle cosmetic, general, oncology, orthopedic, vascular, urological, and pediatric surgery, one may wonder what else there ...

Costa Rica is filled with attractive lodging options, but when it comes to San Jose the options become narrower. The capital city has lots of potential, but it seems as if hoteliers sometimes forget about it. For this reason, backpackers are often resigned to spending scary nights at the rundown hotels near the Coca Cola bus terminal, businessmen flock to the soulless and expensive chain hotels, a...

Can the capital city of Costa Rica be transformed into an approximation of a New York city neighborhood? More specifically, can the metropolitan park of La Sabana mirror parts of the swanky Central Park district of Manhattan. According to an article in Diario Extra, which cites El Nuevo Herald from Miami and the Spanish EFE news agency as sources, a future presidential candidate in Costa Rica thin...

According to a recent report published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the capital city of Costa Rica is home to the most expensive and inaccessible real estate in the region. The IADB looked at 41 cities in the Latin American and Caribbean region and determined that only 29 percent of Ticos have the means necessary to acquire a home in the metropolitan area and its suburbs. By w...

For 20 years, I’ve been fortunate to live and work in this fabulous country and I’ve assembled the following information with links to share a slice of paradise with you. CENTRAL VALLEY - The heart and soul of Costa Rica, where 70% of the population lives and works. Strikingly beautiful with a mild, spring-like climate year-round. Costa Rica’s Central Valley lies at an elevation of 3,000 to 5,...

On Tuesday, April 3rd, classical music lovers will be treated to a free concert at the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San Jose. The repertoire today will include Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (the Unfinished Symphony) and The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. The Manuel Maria Gutierrez Symphonic Orchestra (OSMMG or MaMaGu in Spanish) is an ensemble f...

The International Festival of the Arts (known as FIA by its Spanish acronym) is now just four days away from its 2012 opening. Once the FIA starts in earnest, residents of Costa Rica can look forward to ten days of arts and culture on the streets, in our theaters, and in open performance spaces around our capital city of San Jose.  This year marks the 20th anniversary of the FIA, an event organize...

A dear reader named Brad recently left the following question in our Facebook profile: " about good, affordable day trips in and around the SJ. I get a lot of visitors and they are always interested in them." Hello Brad, thanks for your question. Most tourists come to Costa Rica looking for eco-adventures, surfing, fishing, or relaxing at any of our pristine beaches. Our capital city often g...

Be it in the center of San José or around the corner in your neighborhood, you may have come across stores called “Ropa Americana” which offer clothes for as little as ¢1000. If you haven’t explored any of them so far, this article might encourage you to give it a try – especially if you believe that being stylish is a privilege reserved for the well-to-do. It doesn’t have to be! Above all, don...