The airport Juan Santamaria is in Alajuela!

The airport Juan Santamaria is in Alajuela!

We can’t help but notice that people are looking for a hotel near the airport using the phrase “San Jose Airport hotel” or “San Jose Hotel near airport” in search engines. To your surprise, you will get hotels as far as 15 kilometers from the airfierd. As if this was not bad enough, to get to those places you need to transit one of the busiest highways in Costa Rica. A 20-minute trip can become an eternity at busy hours.

We would like to explain why is important to know what is the current location of the airport in the next article. We hope you will find this information helpful.

park juan santamaria in alajuela city
Alajuela City, the one where the airport is at.



Why the Juan Santamaria airport have the SJO code?

The International Air Transport Association or IATA is the global entity that assigns the codes for all the airports that receive international and local flights. Before the Juan Santamaria’s construction, the code SJ was assigned to the old La Sabana Airport. Once the new one came into operation, keeping the old did not make much sense.

So, as San Jose was still the “more important” city near the new , the IATA assigned SJO as the new code. But the main confusion isn’t coming from the IATA but local authorities in Costa Rica that insist on promoting the airport as located in the capital city outside of the country.




Why is the importance of the airport’s real location?

San Jose is not that important for tourists and visitors anymore. Most of them prefer to stay at hotels closer to the airport to rest after their flight. Of course, there are options, like Hotel Alajuela Costa Rica Airport, for example, as it is just five minutes away by car, and 10 minutes on the bus.

Because of the confusion caused by the idea that the airport is closer to San Jose, many visitors still use the phrase “San Jose Airport” while searching on Google, Bing, and other search engines. This will cause inaccurate search results confusing visitors by showing accommdations that are not close to the terminal.

Because of this, some expenses could get higher than necessary, like transport and hosting.

Park at san jose, costa rica
Parque de la Democracia in San Jose city



Cities close to the Juan Santamaria Airport

Alajuela is the closest one with this important installation being next to the city limits. Heredia is also close to 8 miles away. San Jose is 10 miles away to the east. Meanwhile, Grecia is 10 miles away to the west.

So, Alajuela is your best option for your first stop in Costa Rica. It is a city with all the services needed for a visitor or a tourist, like car rentals, plus night entertainment. Also, the Poas volcano, one of the most famous in the country, is close.

Grecia is also great if you are heading towards any destiny on the Pacific coast. On the other hand, Heredia is the right one if you are heading to the Caribbean coast.

rain at Grecia city in costa rica, another city near the airport
Grecia city, 20 minutes away from airport.



Conclusion

The IATA has assigned the code ALJ to one rural airport in South Africa, so there is nothing to do about the code. However small businesses like us can help by providing visitors and tourists with legitimate information.
Now, after reading this you can do your searches correctly and make good decisions when looking for hosting and transport.

I hope this article was helpful for anyone reading it.
In Hotel Alajuela Costa Rica Airport, we always have our doors open for you. If you want more information about or reserve your room at once, write to us using our contact form or the Whatsapp button floating on the side.