SAN JOSE, the capital of Costa Rica, is home to several excellent museums and many of the country’s best hotels, restaurants, and nightlife options. The city’s other great assets are its location and mild climate as San José enjoys pleasant weather year round and stands in a broad fertile bowl ringed by jagged mountains, some of which are active volcanoes. Downtown, the grid-plan streets are lined with mirrored high-rises and elegant bungalows; in the affluent suburbs at the eastern and western ends of the city, middle-class Ticos (as Costa Ricans call themselves) tend their tidy gardens, while sprawling barrios stretch to the north and south.