2 Best Sights in Central Valley, Costa Rica

The producer of Costa Rica's most popular export-quality coffee gives a lively Classic Coffee Tour highlighting the history of Costa Rica's coffee cultivation through a theatrical presentation that is admittedly a bit hokey. Your "tour guides" are professional actors, and pretty good ones at that, so if you don't mind the song and dance, it's fun. (You might even be called upon to participate.) During the 1½-hour tour, you'll take a short walk through the coffee farm and processing plant, and learn how professional coffee tasters distinguish a fine cup of java. A two-hour Coffee Lovers tour delves into the process at a more expert level. You'll leave the new all-day Coffee Origins tour feeling like even more of an expert, delving into the environmental issues surrounding coffee. You can also stop in at Britt's Coffee Bar and Factory Store. Although all three tours are devoted entirely to the production and history of Costa Rica's most famous agricultural product, Britt is also a purveyor of fine chocolates, cocoas, cookies, macadamia nuts, and coffee liqueurs; you'll see its products for sale in souvenir shops around the country and at the airport as you leave. The standard coffee tour is often a half-day inclusion on many Central Valley tours operated by San José tour companies, combined with the Poás volcano, the La Paz waterfall gardens, or Rainforest Adventures.

Costa Rica's only real remaining oxcart factory was founded in 1920, and its carpentry methods have changed little since then. The guiding spirit of founder Eloy Alfaro lives on here, but the business and tradition have passed onto subsequent generations of his family. The two-story wooden building housing the wood shop is surrounded by trees and flowers—mostly orchids—and all the machinery on the ground floor is powered by a waterwheel at the back of the shop. Carts are painted in the back, and although the factory's main products are genuine oxcarts—which sell for up to $2,500—there are also some smaller mementos that can easily be shipped home. A cavernous restaurant serves food, buffet-style.