Costa Rican Central Valley in the context of Tárcoles River

San José (Spanish: [saŋ xoˈse]; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of San José Province. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Central Valley, within San José canton. San José is Costa Rica's seat of national government, focal point of political and economic activity, and major transportation hub. San José is simultaneously one of Costa Rica's cantons, with its municipal land area covering 44.62 square kilometers (17.23 square miles) and having within it an estimated population of 352,381 people in 2022. Together with several other cantons of the central valley, including Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago, it forms the country's Greater Metropolitan Area, with an estimated population of over 2 million in 2017. The city is named in honor of Joseph of Nazareth.

Founded in 1736 by order of Cabildo de León, the population of San José rose during the 18th century through the use of colonial planning. It has historically been a city of strategic importance, having been the capital of Costa Rica three times. More than a million people pass through it daily. It is home to the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, the National Theatre of Costa Rica, and La Sabana Metropolitan Park. Juan Santamaría International Airport serves the city.

Barva Volcano is an andesitic stratovolcano complex in central Costa Rica, 22 km north of San José, in Heredia Province. On the eastern side of the mountain is a lake in what was the volcanic crater, called "Laguna de Barva", and on the western side it has three hills on the top which are called "Las Tres Marías". It is located in the small agricultural community of Sacramento.

Barva has several eruptive centres at its summit and many parasitic cones on its flanks. Its three principal summits visible from the Central Valley give it the common local name of Las Tres Marías (The Three Marys).

Alajuela (Spanish pronunciation: [alaˈxwela]) is a district in the Alajuela canton of the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Alajuela canton, it is awarded the status of city. By virtue of being the city of the first canton of the province, it is also the capital of the Province of Alajuela.

Because of its location in the Costa Rican Central Valley, Alajuela is nowadays part of the conurbation of the Greater Metropolitan Area. The city is the birthplace of Juan Santamaría, the national hero of Costa Rica and the figure who gives the name to the country's main international airport, which is south of Alajuela downtown.

The Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica (Spanish: Gran Área Metropolitana, GAM) is the largest urban agglomeration in the country, comprising areas of high population density surrounding the capital, San José, which geographically corresponds to the Central Valley and extended to include the Guarco Valley, where some of the cantons of the Cartago province are located.

The proper definition and delimitation corresponds to the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica (INEC) and could vary over time. According to the 2011 census, the GAM had a population of 3.1 million inhabitants (about 60% of Costa Rica's population) in an area of 2,044 km² (3.84% of the country's area).

Monteverde is the twelfth canton of the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica, located in the Cordillera de Tilarán (Tilarán range). Roughly a four-hour drive from the Central Valley, Monteverde is one of the country's major ecotourism destinations, with the Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde (Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve) being the largest, in addition to several other natural attractions which draw considerable numbers of tourists and naturalists, both from Costa Rica and abroad.

National Geographic has called the Monteverde Cloud Forest "the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves". Newsweek ranked Monteverde the world's No. 14 "place to remember before it disappears"; by popular vote in Costa Rica, Monteverde was deemed one of the seven natural wonders of the nation, along with Isla del Coco, Volcán Arenal, Cerro Chirripó, Río Celeste, Tortuguero, and Volcán Poás.