San José Travel Forum

I am hoping to travel to Costa Rica. I have searched every weather page I know of and none give the air quality or smog readings, as we have for cities here in the US. I have severe asthma that is bothered by smog. I want to pick the least smoggy time to come to Costa Rica. I was hoping to come in August of this year. Can anyone tell me what is their experience of the least smoggy months? And is there any website anywhere that lists the San José air quality readings? Also how far out of San José do you have to get to escape the smog? I would really appreciate help from anyone who is knowledgeable about this as it is my dream to come to Costa Rica but I don't want to get really ill there. Thank you so much.

If you just turn left at the airport exit you'll never hit the San Jose smog. The airport is ~20 km outside the capital and there is no real reason to go in.

There are a lot of diesel trucks and buses on the roads and in smaller towns however so you can get very localized areas of severely reduced air quality. If you head straight to the coastal areas you can count on the sea breezes to keep the air pretty clear any time of year.

Don't know how you're affected by pollen, but you at least get a break there. The reasons are complex, but in general there is no "pollen season" and more of the plants use specific transport mechanisms (birds, insects, bats etc.) rather than massive releases into the air.

Sorry but I can't help on the posting of air quality. I haven't come across it in the past 15 years and frankly I'd be surprised if it's out there.

Forgot to mention. You could always fly into Liberia. Oduber international is literally in the middle of nowhere and you could see excellent examples of all that wild Costa Rica has to offer withhout ever getting anywhere near Puntarenas, Limon or San Jose which are by far the largest most polluted cities.

thank you for your reply. But i didn't mention that part of my trip will include visiting people in San Jose so I cannot avoid the city altogther. thats why i needed to know when it is less smoggy... for example, Los Angeles is most smoggy in the hottest months of the year which are in the summer and in general is less smoggy in early spring. Thats what i need to know about San Jose... thank you

I guess that changes the complexion of the quandry quite a bit.

The trade winds set up pretty consistently Dec. through April so that should help blow the smog away...

Can't really give you any advice based on experience since I always avoid the city as much as possible and have only spent a half dozen days there.

Wouldn't your friends be a good source of smog estimates since they live there?

We went to CR in October last year. My 15 year old daughter suffers from pollen allergy and light asthma but she never had any problems. It was the green season, raining a lot up in Arenal, but sunshine in Manuel Antonio area. We avoided San José completely. Stayed one night at a hotel just 15 minutes by car from the airport and the nex day we were off to Arenal. The traffic isn't that bad as soon as you passed the San José area. If starting early, no problems at all.

Hope you can make a trip to CR, it is a lovely country to visit. Not so crowded in the low season.