The city of Heredia, which was the capital of Costa Rica between 1935 and 1938, can be found situated only 10 kilometres away from the current capital San José. Heredia is the capital of the province with the same name. It has a population of more than 100,000.
Heredia was established in the 18th century with the name of Cubujuquí, however in 1763 it came to be named Villa de Heredia. This city is popularly known as "the city of flowers" because of the countryside which surrounds it and also because of the beauty of its women.
Heredia offers tourists a series of historical buildings which show the history of the city: the fort (emblematic building of the city), the post office and telegraph building, the church and the secondary school amongst others. All of them are found on a central street and occupy a distance of around 300 meters.
The province of Heredia is famous for its coffee plantations, and being one of the most important farms of Café Britt. From its general headquarters, placed in the Mercedes district, the farm offers guided visits to tourists who are interested to find out about the coffee-making process and offers samplings of other products of its manufacturers, like chocolate, liquor flavored coffee etc.
Heredia also boasts diverse shopping centres with every type of shop and areas of restoration where the day can be spent.
To the west of the city the large industrial zone can be found which has had a large development in the last few years. The large multinational companies have chosen this city to build their headquarters: IBM, Baxter, Hewlett-Packard, Pfizer, Roche and Wall-Mart.
In the surrounding area of the city, in the Heredia province, there are impressive nature reserves, since this province dedicates a large proportion of its territory to nature conservation. Also in the Braulio Carillo national park there are two inactive volcanoes of nearly 3000 metres high.
All this just makes Heredia an ideal tourist destination, where the tourist can enjoy all the comforts of a small city, and at the same time can discover the beauties of the tropical climate.
