San Antonio

About San Antonio:

San Antonio became a district in 1950, when it was split off from San Rafael, and it is the eighth of the nine districts of Puriscal. It sits on the hills just northeast of Santiago, at a mean height of 1,090 metres. Ruta 239, the canton’s main road, runs through it and carries traffic toward Ciudad Colón, where Ruta 27 takes over into San José. The other way in is Ruta 316, a tertiary national road of under nine kilometres that drops from San Antonio to Piedras Negras in Mora, and it is often in poor condition.

For most of the last century the district had only a few hundred people. It had 943 residents in 1973, doubled by 1984 and reached 4,908 in 2022. The CAIS, the CCSS’s integrated health centre for Puriscal and Turrubares, opened here on Ruta 239 around 2009 and is now the main medical centre of the canton. It offers emergency care and specialists in internal medicine, surgery, paediatrics, radiology and geriatrics, runs weekday clinics until 9 p.m., and its operating theatres take on cases from the waiting lists of the San José hospitals. Banks, supermarkets and the Saturday farmers’ market are a short drive away in Santiago.

San Antonio shares with neighbouring Desamparaditos a band of steep slopes made of deeply weathered volcanic rock, the kind that gives way once it is cut or soaked. That shapes building here more than anything else: retaining walls, drainage and the grade of the access road decide what a lot is worth. Most of the trouble comes between June and November, when the hillsides fill with water and the side roads down to the lower barrios take a beating. The height pays you back in other ways. From the ridges the view opens over the Central Valley, and at Tinamaste, 500 metres from the turn-off to Piedras Negras, the Tabú falls drop into swimming pools at the end of a short trail.

The district is a string of barrios rather than one village: San Antonio Centro, with its church, sports field and cemetery, Barrio Santa Lucía, Corrogres, El Estero, Naranjito, Charcón, also known as Río Viejo, Bajo Dantas, San Antonio Abajo and the Ciudadela Tinamaste. Several of its streets go by people’s names, among them Calle Herrera, Calle Rafael Solórzano and Calle Celestino Elizondo. San Antonio Abajo has its own development association, which has called neighbours to meetings on the plan regulador. Buyers from San José and from abroad come for larger parcels with views, part of a wider interest in Puriscal’s hills, where land costs far less than in Escazú, Santa Ana or Ciudad Colón.

Houses in San Antonio:

Houses line Ruta 239 and the side streets that run off it, and among them are detached houses in condominium. One example at the upper end is a five-bedroom house of 368 square metres on a 747 square metre lot. A house on or near the main road keeps the CAIS and Santiago within easy reach; one further down a side road gives you more space and less traffic. When you compare houses for sale in San Antonio de Puriscal, look at how each lot was cut into the hillside and where the water goes in a downpour.

Land and Lots in San Antonio:

Much of what is for sale here is land. Lots with long frontage on a public road come up, such as one of 2,606 square metres with some 63 metres along the street, and small farms still sell with their crops in the ground: one of 4,230 square metres near Tinamaste carries fruit trees and 900 coffee plants, with power, telephone and piped water available to connect. At the far end of the scale, a 24-hectare property already laid out as a 32-lot gated development, with internal roads, drainage, buried water lines and electricity on most lots, is on offer as a single holding. For lots for sale in San Antonio, frontage on a public road is worth paying for, because a parcel reached only by a private track down a slope is harder to permit and dearer to build on.

Rentals in San Antonio:

Rentals in San Antonio are long-term lets, mostly houses of two to four bedrooms. What tenants ask for rarely changes: at least two bedrooms, space for a car, and a spot near the CAIS or in Naranjito.

FAQ:

• Which part of San Antonio suits me best?

  The centre and the stretch of Ruta 239 around the CAIS put the clinic next door and Santiago close by. Naranjito and the barrios off the main road are quieter but still near services. San Antonio Abajo and the land toward Piedras Negras depend on Ruta 316, so they suit buyers who want space and do not mind a rough drive.

• Is the ground in San Antonio safe to build on?

  Much of the district is steep, deeply weathered volcanic rock that slips once it is cut and soaked, so check the slope before you check anything else. Ask the Municipalidad de Puriscal for the certificado de uso de suelo on the exact parcel, since the canton’s plan regulador is still being prepared, and pay for a soil study on any lot with a cut bank. Then confirm the title, any liens and the plano catastrado at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and make sure the access is a public road or a registered easement.

• Can I rely on Ruta 316?

  It is a tertiary national road between San Antonio and Piedras Negras, and it is often in poor shape. For San Antonio Abajo it is the only road in and out. If the property you like depends on it, drive it in October before you decide.

• How close is medical care?

  The CAIS of Puriscal is inside the district, on Ruta 239. It has an emergency service, specialist clinics and weekday consultations until 9 p.m., and it is the main health centre for Puriscal and Turrubares. Patients from parts of Mora use its evening clinics too.

• Can I rent in San Antonio before buying?

  Yes. Long-term rentals of two- to four-bedroom houses come up, especially near the CAIS and in Naranjito. Renting through one rainy season is a good way to learn which roads and slopes hold up before you commit to a lot.