Cinco Esquinas

About Cinco Esquinas:

Cinco Esquinas takes up the southern tip of Tibás. Anselmo Llorente, San Juan and Colima lie to the north, the canton of San José to the west and south, and Goicoechea to the east. At Tournón, its southeastern corner, the district touches Merced in San José and San Francisco in Goicoechea; Route 5 starts there and runs north through San Juan and Santo Domingo to Heredia, while Route 32 to the Caribbean passes the Centro Comercial Tournón just across the line. Routes 100, 101 and 108 also cross the district, and Route 100 links it with La Uruca and Calle Blancos. The old road out of the city once climbed the Cuesta de Cinco Esquinas, a slope buses struggled with; today traffic enters Tibás through a short vehicle tunnel instead.

The district is as old as the canton. Law 42 of 27 July 1914 created Tibás with just two districts, San Juan and Cinco Esquinas, and until the 1940s this area went by the name La Estación. It has since given up land twice: León XIII was split off in 1994 and Colima in 1999. In 1984 more than 27,000 people lived inside its old limits, and today about 5,500 live in what remains. Daily life turns around the Clínica Dr. Clorito Picado on Avenida 27, the 24-hour CCSS clinic for Tibás, La Uruca and Merced, with the San Agustín de Hipona parish church a short walk east, facing the public recreation ground.

Cinco Esquinas sits at 1,158 metres on the Central Valley plateau, and there is no open land left. Its barrios are Bajo Piuses, San Rafael, Leiva Urcuyo, Lilas, Lomas del Pinar, Montecarlo and Santa Teresa. Houses, mechanics’ workshops, parts shops and small businesses share the same blocks, most of all near the main roads. Children attend the Escuela de San Rafael or the Escuela Esmeralda Oreamuno de Jiménez. In Montecarlo, the Bambú Rivera towers rise well above the one- and two-storey houses around them.

Location is what sells here. Downtown San José starts just past the southern boundary, so the district suits people who work in the city centre or along the northern routes to Heredia and the Caribbean and want a short trip home. Most houses change hands between Costa Rican households, with prices quoted in colones. Investors buy small units at Bambú Rivera to let, and the developer rents out apartments there as well. Business owners come for corner lots and frontage on the busy roads.

Houses in Cinco Esquinas:

Expect older one- and two-storey homes on tight lots when you look at houses for sale in Cinco Esquinas, spread across barrios such as San Rafael, Santa Teresa and Lomas del Pinar. Many have been enlarged over the decades. Some come with one or more rental apartments built on the same lot, and are sold as a home with an income attached. Before you make an offer, check that every extension and added unit has a municipal permit and shows up on the cadastral plan.

Apartments in Cinco Esquinas:

Bambú Rivera Club Residences, built by RC Inmobiliaria opposite the Clínica Clorito Picado, is where nearly all of the district’s apartment stock sits. Units range from compact one-bedrooms under 40 square metres to two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments of 60 to 75 square metres, on floors up to the twelfth, and some two-bedrooms come with two tandem parking spaces. Residents share a semi-Olympic pool, a gym, a yoga deck, a dog park, children’s play areas, multi-use courts and a coworking room. Resale units are usually priced in colones with a monthly condominium fee on top, so weigh the fee as carefully as the price.

Rentals in Cinco Esquinas:

The rental market runs on two tracks. At Bambú Rivera, one-bedroom units are let in colones with the condominium fee included, while semi-furnished and furnished two-bedrooms ask dollars and cost noticeably more. Away from the towers, smaller apartments attached to family houses come up for rent, along with the odd whole house. When you compare apartments for rent in Cinco Esquinas, ask what the rent covers and whether a parking space comes with the unit.

Commercial Property in Cinco Esquinas:

The roads through Cinco Esquinas carry traffic into Tibás and on toward Heredia and La Uruca, and that exposure is what commercial buyers pay for. Corner lots of several hundred square metres on these roads come up for sale, as do lots marketed for mixed use, with a home and a shop on one plot. Workshops, parts dealers and small stores already line many of these streets. Ask the Municipalidad de Tibás for a land-use certificate covering your planned activity before you sign anything.

FAQ:

• Is this property really in Cinco Esquinas, or is it now in Colima or León XIII?

  Older deeds and plans can name Cinco Esquinas for land that has belonged to León XIII since 1994 or to Colima since 1999. On the southern and eastern edges, a few blocks also decide whether a property is in Tibás, San José or Goicoechea, which changes the municipality that collects your property tax and issues your permits. Pull the record from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) and match the district and canton on the cadastral plan with the address you were given.

• How do I get from Cinco Esquinas to central San José or Heredia?

  The San José–Clínica–Bajo Piuses bus stops beside the San Agustín church, and the Calle Blancos and Caribbean routes pass Tournón a few minutes’ walk away. By car, Route 5 heads north through San Juan and Santo Domingo to Heredia, Route 100 leads to La Uruca, and Route 32 starts its run to the Caribbean at Tournón. The city centre is immediately to the south.

• Is there medical care close by?

  Yes. The Clínica Dr. Clorito Picado sits inside the district and is the CCSS clinic for Tibás, La Uruca and Merced. It offers general care and emergencies around the clock, and patients with chronic conditions can be seen by specialists there.

• How reliable is the water supply?

  When the Guadalupe aqueduct failed in June 2025, the water utility scheduled evening cuts across Tibás, and supply here can be affected whenever that system has problems. Ask whether the house or building has a storage tank and how it handled those cuts.

• Does a Bambú Rivera apartment work as a rental investment?

  Demand comes from people who want to live close to downtown San José with amenities on site, and the developer itself rents out units in the same towers, so you will be competing with it. One-bedrooms rent in colones and two-bedrooms in dollars. Read the condominium rules on rentals and check the monthly fee before you buy.