Santiago

About Santiago:

Santiago covers 61 km² to the south-west of San Ramón city. Piedades Sur wraps around its north and west, San Rafael district lies to the east, and to the south the Río Jesús María separates it from the cantons of San Mateo and Esparza; a short stretch of its northern edge touches the central district. Ruta 1, the Interamericana, crosses the whole district, past Magallanes, Empalme and La Angostura, before it drops through Cambronero toward the coast, and Ruta 756 branches off it to San Rafael de Esparza. A bus runs between Río Jesús and San Ramón. For the hospital, the banks, the market and the University of Costa Rica’s Sede de Occidente, you go into town.

Santiago was the first district of the canton to be founded. It was once divided into Santiago Norte and Santiago Sur, and the district of Alfaro was later carved out of it. Today it takes in Alto Santiago, Santiaguito, Magallanes, Río Jesús, Empalme, La Angostura, Cambronero, Balboa, Cuesta del Toro, San José del Higuerón and Montserrat, a string of lanes named for families such as Calle Arias, Calle León, Calle Quirós and Calle Madrigal, and the El Sesteo 1 and 2 residential areas close to town. Coffee, grains and vegetables have long been its crops, and cattle have gained ground over the years. La Angostura has its own primary school, the Escuela Carlos María Jiménez Ortiz, and a sports field right on the Interamericana.

This is river country. The Río Jesús crosses the district from west to east, while the Barranca, the Río Grande, the Obispo and the Jesús María form parts of its boundary, and creeks such as the Quebrada del Peñón and Tres Vueltas cut the slopes in between. The village stands at 1,130 metres, but the land falls toward the Pacific: Río Jesús is already down near 970 metres, and the further south you go, the warmer it gets. That fall is what gives Magallanes and Río Jesús their views of the gulf. It is also why the stretch of Ruta 1 between San Ramón and Cambronero has unstable ground, with a known problem spot at Empalme and a sinkhole reported between Magallanes and Arias.

At the 2011 census Santiago had 4,535 residents, spread thinly over a district seven times the size of San Isidro. Local families trade small lots and modest houses near town and along the Interamericana, nearly always in colones. Magallanes is where buyers from abroad have settled, for the views, for air mild enough to live without air conditioning, and for being minutes from town. The quintas, view lots and larger homes there and around Río Jesús are usually priced in dollars.

Houses in Santiago:

Near town, houses are family homes on tight lots. One in the district, ten minutes from San Ramón centre, fits 150 m² over three levels on a 396 m² plot, with a two-car garage at street level and the bedrooms on top. In Magallanes, Hayden Estates is a gated community on Calle Morales where modern houses of around 220 m² have been sold furnished, with views over the mountains. The larger homes are often built to earn: a four-bedroom house finished in 2022 comes with two separate apartments of about 167 m² each on a third of an acre. When you shortlist houses for sale in Santiago de San Ramón, drive from the house to town at the hour you would actually make the trip, because much of the district reaches San Ramón by Ruta 1.

Land and Lots in Santiago:

Lots here come in three sizes. In El Sesteo and on Calle Zeledón, close to town, flat plots of 200 to 250 m² are sold ready to build, with water already available. In Alto Santiago and La Angostura they run from about 700 to 1,000 m², and in Río Jesús and Magallanes view lots of 2,000 to almost 6,000 m² sit on public roads with water and power at the boundary. Before you pay extra for one of the lots with a view of the Gulf of Nicoya, get the water availability letter in writing, then walk the lot after a heavy rain to see where the runoff goes.

Quintas and Fincas in Santiago:

Around Río Jesús the land is divided into quintas of 5,000 to 9,000 m², each with water and electricity already in place. Larger holdings are still farms. In Magallanes, a property of 2.8 hectares is planted in coffee, keeps a stand of forest and looks out to the Pacific. With the Río Jesús and its creeks running through so many parcels, ask your surveyor to mark the river protection strip on the plano before you settle on a price.

Rentals in Santiago:

Long-term rentals cover a wide range. In El Sesteo 1, two-storey apartments with two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms rent in colones, and one-storey three-bedroom houses on small lots come up elsewhere in the district. At the other end, furnished houses in Hayden Estates are let long term in dollars. Properties that pair a main house with separate apartments add to the supply, and they are sold on exactly that idea: live in the house, let the apartments.

FAQ:

• Is this the same Santiago as the one in Palmares?

  No. Palmares, the canton next door, has its own Santiago district of under 8 km², and Santiago is also the name of Puriscal’s main town. This Santiago is the second district of San Ramón canton, 61 km² in size, with postal code 20202. Sellers often write only “Santiago, Alajuela”, so check the canton and district on the plano before you drive out.

• What happens when Ruta 1 at Cambronero is closed?

  Cambronero lies on the Esparza side, so a closure there mainly cuts the trip down to Puntarenas and the Pacific; the run into San Ramón stays open. When the Cambronero stretch was shut, the cantonal road from Río Jesús to Piedra Blanca was opened to light vehicles as the way round. The unstable spot at Empalme sits between Santiago and town, though, so if you depend on Ruta 1 every day, follow the road reports before you commit to a house at the far end of the district.

• What should I check before buying a view lot on the Pacific slope?

  The slope that gives Magallanes and Río Jesús their views is the same ground that moves on Ruta 1, so start with stability. Look the lot up on the national emergency commission’s hazard map for San Ramón, ask the Municipalidad for a land-use certificate, and on steep frontage pay for a soil study before you design. Then confirm in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) that the title is clean and that the plano matches what you walked.

• How far is Santiago from the airport and the beach?

  From Magallanes, Juan Santamaría airport is around 45 minutes by road and Puntarenas about 40, both depending on traffic and the state of Ruta 1. San Ramón centre is five to ten minutes from most of the district. Río Jesús has its own bus to town.