8vo Rooftop Bar - Best classy cocktail bar in San Jose, Costa Rica

While visiting Costa Rica we tried to check out different places. On arrival to San Jose with an unplanned over stop in Panama city due to some crazy storm we decided that it was time to actually treat ourselves with some tasty cocktails in a classy place.
What would you expect of a Costa Rican cocktail bar? Well I was thinking of some tropical place made out of banana trees leaves with always smiling bartneder wearing a Hawaiian shirt and waitreses wearing only bikinies. Okay, first of all San Jose is not on the beach and if you stick to the center, like a real center of the city, you would probably find some dark and dodgy looking places instead of happy tropical bars :-) I am not saying you should stay away from the center - there are tons of cool venues as well, but somehow you don't feel like getting drunk and flashing your wallet around over there at night :-)
So while sitting in Panama we decided to google trying to find some classy cocktail bars in San Jose to celebrate our arrival if it ever happened (trust me when after 10 hour flight you end up in a different country you start doubting things). And it was not easy :-) Even googling in Spanish did not give that many results. But we managed to spot 8vo Rooftop Bar. Pics looked great, there was a swimming pool right on the roof, overlooking the city. So the decision was made!

How to find it? As anything else in Costa Rica it is quite tricky to find for Europeans since there are no streets, well there are, but usually you get the address like "between 1st and 3rd Avenue, next to the Hospital". But in that particular case the bar was outside of the city center (where we stayed) so we chose a taxi option. 20 minutes ride, getting lost, asking for directions from some strangers on the road and finally finding out that 8vo Rooftop bar is in Sheraton Hotel we managed to get there. So if you go by taxi, just ask them to take you to Sheraton hotel and you will be just fine.
The place indeed was great. Since it gets dark quite early, at around 6PM, we got an amazng view of the night city. Unlike many places staff at 8ve Rooftop Bar speaks very good English. The menu is in English as well. Makes things easier :-)
Now, I am still not 100% sure, but somehow got the impression that swimming pool is not supposed to be used at night. Everybody in fact were dressed up nicely, suits, cocktail dresses, so please don't try to get in there wearing boardies hoping to go for swim after one or two drinks :-)
As for the drinks, you can ask for any classical cocktail (they are not on the menu) or pick something from the list. None of them would make sense if you try to guess what yu would get by the name of the drink, but they are all pretty good. To be honest I would not say that I will remember the place for its' cocktails, ... definitely not, but the view is really great, service is super fast, people are very nice and friendly.
Pricewise we were told that that was one of the most expensive places in San Jose, but price for a cocktail was between 3000 and 4000 colones which is about 6-8 US dollars, which is what like 5-6 EUR, I think it's pretty cheap for a classy place right? Plus we paid pretty much the same amount for similar drinks in way cheaper looking places. So guys, if you in San Jose and feeling like going out, dressing up nicely, and ready to enjoy the evening you definitely have to check out 8vo Rooftop Bar.


Cheers,
Your BestBars.in Team