San Roque

About San Roque:

San Roque covers about 27 square kilometres directly north of Grecia’s centre, on the ground that starts to climb toward Poás. The district seat sits at 1,077 metres, and the Liceo de San Roque is only two and a half kilometres north of the La Merced church in town, with the Hospital San Francisco de Asís about three kilometres to the southwest. The main way in is Ruta 711, which links the district with the centre of Grecia. On the western side, Ruta 118, the Grecia–Sarchí road, runs through Agualote and crosses the Río Vigía, while Calle Flores leaves eastward over the bridge into San Isidro. Sarchí Norte is about five kilometres west and San Pedro de Poás about seven to the east.

The district started as barrio San Andrés, two blocks and a main street, and it has grown well beyond that. Today it takes in the barrios of Agualote, Bajo Sapera, Casillas, Latino and San Miguel Arriba and the villages of Cabuyal, Carbonal, Coyotera and San Miguel, and locals still split the centre into San Roque Abajo and San Roque Arriba. Its church is a diaconía of Grecia’s La Merced parish and celebrates San Roque every 16 August. The 2011 census counted 11,132 people. For the bank, the hospital and the big supermarkets, people simply go down to Grecia.

Coffee and tomatoes once covered much of the upper slopes, and the clearest sign of how things have changed is water. The ASADA San Roque, the community board that runs the local aqueduct, bought an old coffee farm high in the hills to protect the springs that feed its network, and it is replanting the farm with native trees. A family-owned craft brewery, Cervecería San Roque, has made its beer on Calle Santa Lucía since 2017 using that same mountain spring water. Bigger employers are close by: a free-zone company is registered inside the district, and Evolution Free Zone opened on Route 1 at Tacares in October 2024 with medical-device makers and a first phase of around 6,000 jobs.

Those jobs are part of why San Roque is filling in. Grecia’s mayor has spoken of fast growth in housing projects across the canton, with newcomers arriving mainly from Heredia, and San Roque sits close enough to the centre to take a share of them. Costa Rican families still make up most of the district, while dollar-priced rentals and the condominiums in San Miguel draw foreigners who came for Grecia’s climate. Altitude helps: San Roque Arriba is noticeably fresher than the town below, and toward San Miguel the houses thin out among forest, old coffee and river ravines. The Agualote and the Vigía cut through the district, and in heavy rain some sectors get hit hard, so see a property in the wet season before you commit.

Houses in San Roque:

Most homes are detached family houses on their own lots. In San Roque centre and around Barrio Latino and San Roque Abajo, that means three-bedroom houses on modest lots, five to ten minutes from Grecia, often sold in colones to local buyers. Higher up you find newer houses with a valley view and larger properties of a thousand square metres or more, some on the market for sale or rent at the same time and priced in dollars. If you are comparing houses for sale in San Roque de Grecia, drive the access road yourself at rush hour; a few hundred metres of bad pavement can change the daily trip more than the floor plan does.

Rentals in San Roque:

Long-term house rentals dominate. Two-bedroom houses in San Roque centre are let in colones on formal contracts, while small furnished houses with hot water and a fully equipped kitchen go to newcomers for dollars. Bigger family homes turn up in Carbonal and inside Condominio El Roble. A house for rent in San Roque, Grecia is a sensible first step if you plan to work in the free zones or simply want to learn the district before buying.

Land and Lots in San Roque:

Land comes in two shapes. Lots outside the condominiums are mostly sold in colones, from flat village parcels near the centre to garden lots with fruit trees in San Miguel. In the gated developments of San Miguel, building lots run to about a thousand square metres each. Before you choose between lots for sale in San Roque, look at what sits below the lot as well as what sits above it: a ravine edge, a stream bank or a rural easement can all limit where the house goes.

Gated Condominiums in San Roque:

San Miguel, in the upper part of the district, holds two residential condominiums. Condominio El Roble, around fifteen minutes from downtown Grecia, offers lots of roughly a thousand square metres and finished family houses that come up both for sale and for rent. Senderos del Río has 72 residential lots of similar size, 28 of them already built on, with paved access, security, a social area and trails along the river and forest. Buyers here get shared services and rules, which suits people who do not want to manage a rural lot alone. Read the condominium regulations and the monthly fee before you make an offer.

FAQ:

• How far is San Roque from the centre of Grecia?

  Very close. The Liceo de San Roque is about two and a half kilometres north of the La Merced church, and many homes in San Roque centre are five to ten minutes from town by car. Ruta 711 is the main link; after the 2026 amparo over its condition, repair work started, so check how far it has progressed on the stretch you would use every day.

• Are San Roque Arriba, San Roque Abajo and San Miguel de Grecia part of the same district?

  Yes. All three sit inside San Roque district, postal code 20304, along with Agualote, Carbonal, Coyotera, Cabuyal and Barrio Latino. Listings often use the village name instead of the district, so search under each of them.

• Who supplies water in San Roque?

  San Roque has its own community water board, the ASADA San Roque, which runs a rural aqueduct and protects its springs in the hills above. Before you buy land, find out whether the lot falls under the ASADA or another provider and get a written water-availability letter for a new connection.

• What should I check before buying a lot near the Agualote or Vigía ravines?

  Start with the water that runs past the lot, not the view. Heavy rain has damaged sectors of San Roque before, so look at drainage, slope and any river setback on the plano catastrado. Confirm the title and the plano in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), request the land-use certificate from the Municipalidad de Grecia, and if the lot is reached by easement, make sure it is registered.

• Is San Roque a practical base for working in Grecia’s free zones?

  It can be. One free-zone company is registered within the district itself, and Evolution Free Zone, opened in 2024 on Route 1 at Tacares, is built around medical-device manufacturing. San Roque lies on the north side of Grecia and Route 1 on the south, so the daily trip crosses or skirts the town centre.