San Pedro

About San Pedro:

San Pedro covers 39 square kilometres in the middle of Turrubares, with San Pablo to the north, San Juan de Mata to the west, San Luis to the south and the canton of Puriscal to the east. Ruta 137 runs through it between San Pablo and Orotina, where it meets Ruta 27 to San José and Caldera. At the village, Ruta 319 branches off and heads down to the Turrubares river and on to San Luis and Carara, so most traffic bound for the south of the canton comes through here. In October 2026 the national roads agency began fitting a modular bridge at Marcos Pérez on that road, as part of grading works on 60 kilometres of road between San Pedro and La Gloria de Puriscal.

San Pedro appeared around 1910, at the same time as San Pablo and San Luis, on the land south of the Río Grande de Tárcoles. It has stayed small: 646 people at the 2011 census and roughly 800 now. The centre is the church of San Pedro Apóstol, the sports field with the bus stop in front of it, and the Escuela Dr. Clodomiro Picado. Everyone else lives in hamlets such as Limón and Alto Limón, Palmar, Florecilla, La Hisopa, Villa Colina and La Pita, which has a primary school of its own. At the end of June the patron saint’s fiestas bring bullfights, fairground rides, live music and food stalls. For secondary school, the EBAIS clinic and the municipal offices, people drive a few kilometres up to San Pablo, while Orotina and Puriscal cover banks and bigger shopping.

This is warm, low country at around 300 metres, and the farms show it. Mango is the crop that counts: the canton has some 185 hectares of orchards, and in 2025 the rural development institute handed tools and equipment to mango growers in San Pedro, San Pablo and San Juan de Mata to lift their yields. The rest of the farmland is mostly pasture for beef and dual-purpose cattle, broken up by cedro, guanacaste, cenízaro and roble sabana. The agriculture ministry flags San Pedro for fire risk, which matters if your quinta backs onto pasture, so keep a cleared strip around the house through the dry months. The Turrubares river basin feeds the community water boards and the national water utility, and many rural properties add a well or a spring of their own.

Most buyers are Central Valley families after a weekend quinta within reach of Ruta 27, people who have decided to live in the countryside full time, and investors looking at large parcels with residential plans. Many come for the quiet and for land priced well below the cantons close to the capital. Hacienda Los Manantiales and Quintas Posada del Sol are both official barrios of the district, listed alongside the village centre itself. Beyond their gates the choice is village lots, country houses and fruit farms.

Houses in San Pedro:

Nearly every house for sale here is a quinta, a country home on anything from half a hectare to well over one. In one of the gated communities, for example, a two-storey house of about 220 square metres stands on 9,100 square metres with a double-height living room, three bedrooms, water from AyA, the national utility, and a solar array that covers its power. Out along Ruta 319 near Palmar there are move-in-ready country houses with pools, and closer to the village you will find plainer three-bedroom homes on more than a hectare and a half. At the simple end, a quinta of 1.33 hectares a kilometre from the centre comes with a small steel-frame cabin, its own well and fruit trees already bearing. When you compare houses for sale in San Pedro de Turrubares, ask exactly where the water and the electricity come from, because the answer changes from one property to the next.

Land and Lots in San Pedro:

Land comes in two sizes. Near the centre, village lots suit an ordinary house: a flat lot of about 2,350 square metres on the main road has every service at its frontage, and plots of a few hundred square metres change hands too. Further out, the standard parcel is around half a hectare, the size of a quinta lot, whether it sits inside a gated community or on its own. South-east of the village the slopes turn steep and the weathered rock gives way easily, so on that side a soil study comes before any house design. Pay for flat ground and year-round access when you look at lots for sale in San Pedro, Turrubares, and walk the site in the wet season to see where the runoff goes.

Fincas in San Pedro:

Large farms come up as well. One of the biggest covers 56 hectares, with a river and its own spring, eleven hectares of fruit trees including 132 mango trees, a small cottage with a pool and barbecue rancho, and pasture for cattle, and it is offered with a master plan for a residential project. Smaller holdings near the village mix pasture with mango, citrus and avocado. A few kilometres away, the cantonal farmers’ centre runs a plant in San Pablo that turns mango and other fruit into pulp. Remember that a seller’s master plan is not a permit: get a land-use certificate for the finca before you work out how many lots it might yield.

Gated Quinta Communities in San Pedro:

Hacienda Los Manantiales covers 112 hectares behind a controlled entrance, split into quintas and small fincas. Lots start at 5,000 square metres and the roofed area of a house may not exceed 15 percent of the lot, which keeps homes well apart and gardens large. The community has private internal roads, drinking water, electricity and street lighting, with views over the hills of Puriscal and Orotina to the Pacific. Lots offered there now run from about 5,400 to more than 11,000 square metres, with an owners’ association fee on top. Quintas Posada del Sol, about two kilometres from the village, sells lots at different heights on its hills, some facing the ocean and others set in forest, and the developer finances buyers directly in colones. Before you sign in either one, get the current rules and fees in writing and find out whether the developer or the owners now maintain the roads and the water system.

FAQ:

• Are Hacienda Los Manantiales and Posada del Sol in San Pedro or San Pablo?

  Both are in San Pedro. They appear among the district’s official barrios, yet some sale offers place them in San Pablo because the cantonal seat is only a few kilometres away and better known. On paper it matters: the plano catastrado and the title should say San Pedro de Turrubares, and if they do not, have your notary explain why before you go any further.

• What should I check before buying a lot inside a quinta community?

  Start with what you are actually buying. In a properly registered condominium you get a finca filial, with its own number at the Registro Nacional and a share of the common areas; on a lot reached by a private road or servidumbre you get a separate finca that depends on that easement for access. Ask which one it is, pull the title and the plano from the Registro Inmobiliario, and request a land-use certificate from the Municipalidad de Turrubares for that exact parcel. On a hillside lot, commission a soil study before anyone draws a house.

• Where does the water come from?

  It depends on the property. Some houses are on AyA, others on a community water board, and plenty of quintas draw on a well or a spring. A well needs a permit and a concession from the environment ministry’s water directorate, so ask to see both. If you plan to build, get a water availability letter for the lot before you pay, because the municipality will not issue a building permit without one.

• How do I get to San Pedro?

  From San José most people take Ruta 27 to Orotina and then climb Ruta 137 through San Juan de Mata. The other way crosses the hills from Ciudad Colón and Puriscal and comes down through San Pablo. Buses stop in front of the sports field in the village. To carry on towards San Luis or Carara, leave on Ruta 319.

• Is San Pedro good land for mangoes?

  Mango is the established crop here. Local growers work varieties such as Tommy Atkins, Irwin and Jade, and the fruit can be processed into pulp at the farmers’ centre plant in San Pablo. Anthracnose and fruit fly are the problems to budget for, and the agriculture ministry names poor orchard care as the main reason yields fall short. Check the age and condition of the trees before you pay for them.