Tures

About Tures:

Tures sits on the eastern side of Santo Domingo at 1,260 metres and covers 3.88 square kilometres. Los Ángeles is the centre, and the other names you will hear are Barrio Lourdes and Calle Vieja. National routes 116, 117 and 504 all cross the district, but Ruta 116 is the spine: it carries traffic between San Isidro de Heredia and Santo Tomás and runs straight through Los Ángeles. The San José–San Isidro de Heredia bus that goes by way of Los Ángeles starts before five in the morning, runs until after ten at night, and reaches the capital in around 45 minutes when the roads are clear. Tibás and the Saprissa stadium are three and a half kilometres to the southwest.

Until 1971 this was San Miguel Norte, the upper end of San Miguel district. Three community leaders, Carlos Villalobos Chacón, Rafael Artavia Villalobos and José Manuel “Toño” Barquero, pushed for a district of its own, and an executive decree created it on 10 December 1971. The new name honours a Huetar figure who lived in the area, a name the canton’s Río Tures also carries. Growth since then has been steady rather than sudden: 1,267 residents in 1973, 2,720 in 2000, 3,452 at the 2011 census and close to 5,000 today.

Old buildings here tend to be kept, not replaced. The Escuela Cristóbal Colón opened on 23 January 1889, built by the people of San Miguel Norte themselves just as the country’s primary-school reform was getting under way. It has an adobe wing and a wooden wing from two different periods, it was declared national architectural heritage in 2010, and when the school outgrew it the community added classroom blocks around the old building instead of pulling it down. The stone bridges are the other landmark: two over the Quebrada Tierra Blanca, one over the Río Tibasito and one over the Río Lajas, with the arch in Barrio Lourdes thought to date from 1850. The late-19th-century arch over the Río Tures toward Las Quebradas went the other way — in July 2026 the Ministry of Culture declined to protect it after the national roads council found it cannot take two-way traffic or medium-weight vehicles.

Daily life runs through Los Ángeles: the EBAIS de Tures for primary care, the old school, the church of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles and the patron-saint fiestas the barrio holds every year. Many secondary students go to the Colegio Técnico Profesional del Este in neighbouring San Miguel, which draws from Tures and Barrio Lourdes. The district suits a family that wants more garden and more land than Santo Domingo centre or Tibás can offer while staying a bus ride from San José. Gated condominiums add a second kind of buyer: a household that wants space and security in the same purchase.

Houses in Tures:

A good share of the houses stand on open residential streets rather than behind a gate, and many are older family homes with a garden. The houses for sale in Tures range from four-bedroom homes of around 250 square metres to a used house of 325 square metres built in Los Ángeles, and at the far end a house sitting on more than 2,000 square metres of land. Land on that scale is hard to find this close to San José. Before you commit, drive from Ruta 116 to the door at rush hour and note which bridge the route crosses, because that decides how easily a moving truck or a building-materials delivery gets in.

Condominiums in Tures:

Condominio Villangel in Los Ángeles sells both lots and finished houses. Residents share green areas, a clubhouse, a children’s playground and a barbecue rancho, security runs around the clock, and pets are allowed. Lots of around 240 square metres have sold inside, and at the top end there are houses of nearly 600 square metres with parking for five cars and a private gym. Condominio La Hacienda works at a different scale, with a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house of 279 square metres on a 584-square-metre lot. In either case, ask for the condominium regulations and the latest maintenance-fee statement before you sign.

Rentals in Tures:

A nearly new two-bedroom apartment in Los Ángeles has come up for rent with a one-car garage and internet, water and electricity all included. Furnished houses appear too, including one that can be let whole or split into two separate units. When a rent covers utilities, get in writing which services are included and whether there is a monthly cap. If you work in San José or Heredia, try the commute on the San Isidro bus before you sign a year-long lease.

Land and Lots in Tures:

Plots here still come in sizes that have mostly disappeared closer to the capital. The lots for sale in Tures have included an 840-square-metre lot, a parcel of 1,726 square metres, and a group of lots from 539 square metres with frontages of almost 13 metres. Four flat lots on a public street have been offered with water and electricity already available. One lot in Los Ángeles carries a mixed residential and commercial land use with 70 per cent coverage and 16 metres of frontage, which suits a home with a shop or office at street level. For anyone weighing a project rather than a single house, a 10,000-square-metre parcel has been offered for condominium development.

FAQ:

• Is Tures the same place as Los Ángeles de Santo Domingo?

  Yes. Los Ángeles is the head town of Tures, and most people use that name instead of the district’s. Do not confuse it with Ángeles de San Rafael, a separate district of San Rafael de Heredia up on Ruta 113: a different canton, a different municipality and a different market. Check that the cadastral plan names Santo Domingo canton and Tures district; the postal code is 40307.

• What should I check on a lot that backs onto a stream?

  Tures is cut by the Quebrada Tierra Blanca and the Tibasito, Lajas and Tures rivers, and the protection strip along each bank cannot be built on. With the cadastral plan in hand, measure how much of the lot falls outside that strip before you agree a price. Then pull the property at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) to confirm the owner, any liens and that the area matches the plan, and ask the Municipalidad de Santo Domingo for a land-use certificate covering what you intend to build. Because the district was carved out of San Miguel in 1971, compare plan numbers and boundaries rather than trusting the place name in an old family document.

• How long does it take to get to San José?

  The San José–San Isidro de Heredia bus via Los Ángeles stops on Ruta 116 in the middle of Tures and takes around 45 minutes to the capital with light traffic; at peak hours, allow more. By car, Tibás is three and a half kilometres to the southwest, and from there you join the main roads into San José.

• Where do children go to school?

  The public primary school is the Escuela Cristóbal Colón in Los Ángeles, still teaching in its 1889 building with newer classroom blocks beside it. For secondary school, the Colegio Técnico Profesional del Este in San Miguel takes students from Tures and Barrio Lourdes and offers technical tracks such as computing and tourism. Primary health care is at the EBAIS de Tures.

• Will the old bridge over the Río Tures affect access?

  That depends on where the property is. The Ministry of Culture decided in July 2026 not to declare the arch heritage, after the national roads council found it cannot carry two-way traffic or medium-weight vehicles. If your route depends on it, ask the seller how trucks get in and build that into your moving or construction budget. Look at any other stone arch on the way with the same eye.