Fodor's Expert Review Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Curio Collection by Hilton

You cannot get more centrally located than this grande dame of San José lodgings, the first choice among travelers who want to be where the action is. A formal dining room and grand piano on the top floor evoke the hotel's 1930s heyday (there's piano music 12:30–2:30 and 6–8 pm daily). Rooms are large, bright, and amazingly modern. (They do not reflect the building's almost century-old history.) But for a hotel that, quite frankly, was showing its age, the renovation is a winner.