www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I'm an intermediate salsero making a solo trip to CR beginning of Jan. I've done a bit of searching on CRT and haven't yet found much info about salsa clubs. Below is a summary of what my research has found so far (this information was gathered from various online sources mostly outside of CRT). Please share your CR salsa experiences and any other thoughts or suggestions.

Salsa 54
Calle 3 between avs. 1 and 3
Phone
233-3814
This large 2 story club plays Latin all the time, alternating salsa and merengue. This is the place to go to watch expert salsa dancers and to try some yourself. You can take formal Latin dance classes here, or you might learn something just by watching. This place is popular with Ticos, and tourists are a rare commodity here -- tourists who can really dance salsa, even more so. It's open daily till 4am.

El Tobogan
Just as popular as Salsa 54 regularly has live salsa music. Somewhat more touristy than Salsa 54 and has other options besides salsa.


El Pueblo Area
Town 1 mile outside downtown SJ, with many tourist shops, restaurants, bars and two danceclubs (including Infinito below) close together.

Infinito
El Pueblo
San Jose
Tel: (506) 221-9134
Well known Disco with 3 dance areas, Latin, Reggae, & popular music. One cover will get you in to all 3. This place attracts a wide variety of people so watch out, the person flirting with you might be on the job.

Acapulco Latin Music
Avenida Central, Calles 17/19 - San José -
Phone: 506 222 1070
You can hear mariachi here, as well as salsa, meringue and all the typical Latin sounds. Dance to the beat or just relax and watch the Costa Ricans get it down. A cover charge is in effect on weekends only.

Oops . . . I posted this under the wrong category. Admin, would you please move this to "Massage Parlors, Bars, Nightclubs, Strip Clubs & *******". Thanks.

CR is not a big Salsa country... I also enjoy salsa very much, but have found it hard to find good salsa places there. You've pretty much summed up all the places I would go... I know of a few others, but like I said, salsa is not big in CR...

If you want salsa, go to Dom. Rep., Cuba, Puerto Rico, or anywhere in the Caribbean...

Hell, I've had more luck in Guatemala than in CR for that, same with Panama, but that was over a decade ago...

Some more places:

Fiesta Latina
El Pueblo

Castros
Barrio Mexico

I know that El Tobogan has live music of whatever Latin type especially on weekends--how about the other clubs? Just DJ's?

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

I'd like to take a few salsa lessons while in country. Any one know of a good SJO "Arthur Murray" dance school or teachers for good instruction? Latinas in Vermont are few and far between.

come down to NY, we got latinas a plenty...

CT too...

You got that right, my friend! It's just that I'll be in CR next week, and I've been to most of the sights. This time, it came to mind to try to pick up some new techniques: For SJO, and when I'm there, the hot Latin scene in NYC.

Brother TaxiDriver--here's a link about the CRT Consensus Pick dancing school--they have a few locations around SJO. There's an embedded link from Brother Icantstayaway that might prove useful.
www.costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... =merecumbe
If your travel plans include Jaco, try these folks' 1/2 day Salsa Boot Camp: www.salsastar.com

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

what a shame...

I have a close friend, actually the girl that got me to go to CR for the first time, who is an AMAZING salsa dancer, but she's out of town till Feb...

next time you go down, let me know, she teaches salsa part time... besides the fact that she's GORGEOUS...

NOT p4p though...

Thanks fellas. I appreciate the help, and not thinking to use the search function! I'll be buying you all a round at the SL for posting to a great topic.

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll be heading to a couple of these places for salsa while I'm there. I'll post back my findings.

Compass The info you found was very outdated.

Salsa 54 plays all kinds of music including a reggae night on sundays. it is not the place to dance salsa.

Infinito changed its name to ebony 56 years ago and did away with the 3 dance floors . Now it is mainly reggaeton with a very young crowd ... 18 to 25 or so.

Never heard of the 3rd place.

Salsa is very popular in CR but cumbia and merengue are more popular.

There is dancing at places all over town. The groups usually play a mixture of salsa, merengue , cumbia and bolero.

Castro Bar, fiesta latina at el pueblo, tobogon, bosque bar at the hotel palacio are just a few of the many many places where it is possible to dance salsa.

A few local bands only play salsa, chocolote, is one that plays cuban salsa.
Other than that I do not know of any place that just plays salsa.