The Central Market (6 a.m.–8 p.m. Mon.–Sat.) between Avenidas Central/1 and Calles 6/8 is San José [1]’s most colorful market and heady on atmosphere.
There are booths selling octopus, dorado, and shrimp; butchers’ booths with oxtails and pigs’ heads; flower stalls; saddle shops; and booths selling medicinal herbs guaranteed to cure everything from sterility to common colds.
Pickpockets thrive in crowded places like this—watch your valuables.
Two nearby monuments worth noting are the Monumento Los Presentes (Calle 4, Avenida Central), a grouping of seven patinated statues of Costa Rican folk; and the bronze statue dedicated to Guanacastecan women, one block farther east.
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/costa-rica/san-jose