San Rafael

About San Rafael:

San Rafael covers about 31 square kilometres immediately south of San Ramón city. It meets the central district and San Isidro to the north, Alfaro and Santiago to the west, and the cantons of Palmares and Atenas to the east, while the Río Machuca marks the line with San Mateo to the south. The Río Grande crosses much of the district on its way down. Route 1 runs through San Rafael, local buses leave San Ramón for Calle Zamora by way of Rincón de Orozco, for Llano Brenes and for Rincón de Mora, and Berlín is about 25 minutes from town by car on a paved road that carries on down to La Libertad in San Mateo.

The district was created by decree in February 1886, and for most of its life it lived on coffee. Cabuya was grown here in quantity too, and the fibre was worked at the Orlich family’s factory, and one of the villages is still called Calle Orlich. In those years the district had several coffee mills, a few trapiches and a sawmill. Coffee is still roasted in Calle Zamora, where Café Orlich toasts and packs beans for other brands. The same village has the district’s technical high school, CTP Calle Zamora, with its own business incubator, and primary schools serve Llano Brenes, Rincón de Mora and Rincón de Orozco.

Height is what separates one part of San Rafael from another. The seat stands at 1,080 metres, about level with San Ramón, Llano Brenes drops below 1,000, and the ridge at Berlín is above 1,400. Up there the air is cool enough that nobody plans a house around air conditioning, and the view runs west to Puntarenas and the gulf, which is exactly what people pay for on that hill. Lower down, the villages string out along the roads toward town, and the hospital, the Saturday farmers’ market and the bus terminal in San Ramón are a few minutes away.

Roughly ten thousand people live in the district, close to three times the population of 1973, with the sharpest jump coming between 1984 and 2000. Most are Costa Rican families in the villages near the seat. Berlín has a small foreign community living alongside its Tico neighbours, with its own church, school, clinic and shops. Buyers follow the same split: local families after a house within easy reach of town, and newcomers looking for a view lot on the ridge.

Houses in San Rafael:

Close to the seat and along Calle Zamora and Rincón de Orozco, the usual house is single-storey, three bedrooms and around 100 square metres, on its own lot a few minutes’ drive from San Ramón’s park. In Berlín, houses are fewer and bigger: hilltop homes, some with four bedrooms and some inside gated estates, with views that take in the gulf on one side and the Central Valley volcanoes on the other. When you compare the two, price the drive as well as the house. Seven minutes to town and twenty-five are different daily lives.

Land and Lots in San Rafael:

Most of the land that changes hands is in and around Berlín. Expect everything from building lots of 500 to 1,000-odd square metres, often with room for two or three houses near the main road, to one-hectare parcels and farm-sized pieces of several hectares. Some lots in Berlín sit inside a small eco-lot community beside a retreat centre, zoned residential and with utilities in place. Check road frontage lot by lot: a lot that joins the municipal road can sometimes be rezoned for commercial use, and that changes what it is worth.

Rentals in San Rafael:

Long-term rentals here are mostly modest: two-bedroom houses and cabin-style units close to the seat, within a short drive of San Ramón centre. Some are brand new. If you are undecided between village level and the ridge, a few months renting down here is a cheap way to find out which suits you before you buy.

FAQ:

• Is this the San Rafael near the airport?

  No. San Rafael de Alajuela, with its large condominium projects, is a district of Alajuela’s central canton. This San Rafael belongs to San Ramón, postal code 20206, much further west. The names are easy to confuse, so check the canton on the title and survey plan before you go and see anything.

• How far is San Rafael from San Ramón town?

  The seat is two and a half kilometres south of the park, and houses near it are sold as seven minutes from the centre. Berlín is about 25 minutes by car. Buses run from San Ramón to Calle Zamora, Llano Brenes and Rincón de Mora through the day.

• Do the Berlín lots really have ocean views?

  Many do. The ridge looks across to Puntarenas and the Gulf of Nicoya, and people drive up from town for the sunset. Whether a given lot keeps that view depends on its orientation and on what can be built below it, so stand on the building site itself rather than judging from the road.

• What should I check before buying a parcel on the Berlín ridge or along Calle Zamora?

  Much of this land comes from larger fincas being divided, sometimes into several lots at once. Make sure the survey plan matches the title in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), that the lot fronts a public road rather than a private easement, and that the local ASADA or water provider will issue a water availability letter. Ask the Municipalidad de San Ramón for the land-use certificate, and on the steeper slopes have someone look at where the house can actually go.

• Where do people in San Rafael shop and see a doctor?

  Mostly in San Ramón, which has the regional hospital, the central market, the Saturday feria and the bus terminal for San José, Puntarenas and La Fortuna. Berlín covers the basics with its own clinic, school and grocery shops.