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San José · Barrio Amón & Otoya
Cafés in Barrio Amón & Otoya
Coffee-baron houses on Avenidas 7 and 9, Le Café at the Alianza Francesa and cafés by the Casa Amarilla.
Photo: Mario Spencer, Pexels License
Barrio Amón takes its name from Amón Fasileau-Duplantier, a coffee businessman from Bordeaux whose brother-in-law, Hipólito Tournón, owned a coffee mill on this land.1 Amón proposed a new barrio to the municipality in 1892, signed a contract to build its streets and sidewalks in 1894, and had the land split into lots in 1897.12 It runs from Avenida 7 north to the Río Torres, and Otoya adjoins it around the Casa Amarilla on Avenida 7 and Calle 11.13
In the first decades of the 20th century politicians, immigrants and coffee, sugar and banana families built here, behind gardens and iron fences.1 From the 1950s the barrio began to empty, and in the 1980s and 1990s old houses were pulled down for parking lots; a 2014 survey by the Tecnológico de Costa Rica found 68% of 278 buildings in commercial use.2 Cafés now occupy several of the houses on Avenidas 7 and 9.
At a glance
18Cafés listed
1With opening hours
11:30Earliest opening
19:00Latest closing
- Opens earliest: De Acá, from 11:30 (Tue–Sun 11:30–19:00).
- Most common features: card payment (6%), vegetarian options (6%).
Cafe Amón
Café de los Deseos
Café Miel Garage
Café Otoya
Café-té-ría
Dunn Cafe
Hija café
Alma de Amón
Coma Verde
El Cafe Rojo
La Ventana del Puente
Nomos
October Six Café Bistró
Sabores
Terminal Avenida 9
Le Cafe
Los Sueños Café
Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in San José.
Buildings to look for
The Alianza Francesa, at Avenida 7 and Calle 5, occupies prefabricated metal structures imported in 1890 and has been there since 1965.1 Inside, Le Café serves coffee and snacks next to temporary art exhibitions.4 The green Victorian Casa Verde, at Avenida 9 and Calle 7, was bought and restored by the Tecnológico de Costa Rica in 2015.1
Farther north, the Castillo del Moro, a Mudéjar house of 1930 at Calle 3 and Avenida 13, is a private residence with a café-restaurant, and Casa 927, a 1940 concrete house at Calle 3 and Avenida 11, holds an art gallery and a café.14
Parque Morazán and the Casa Amarilla
Parque Morazán, at Calle 3 and Avenida 7, began in 1887 as a small plaza laid over a former lake.5 Its Templo de la Música, a near-replica of a temple at Versailles, was inaugurated on 24 December 1920, and the park is named after the Honduran general Francisco Morazán, executed in 1842 on what is now the Parque Central.5
The Casa Amarilla was paid for by Andrew Carnegie and finished in 1916 for the Central American Court of Justice, which never sat there because its treaty expired that year.3 It now houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hija café is on Avenida 7, 50 m east of the building.
Cafés in the old houses
Café Otoya presents itself as gastronomy, art and history with a garden, "a green lung" in the middle of San José.6 Its website offers remote workers a Work Combo of breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack and drink refills, with Wi-Fi and spaces to work, for ₡17,900 as of 2023.6 Café-té-ría is a few doors away on Avenida 7.
In 2018 La Nación placed Café Rojo in the Casa Pagés, alongside La Casona Iluminada and the Libros Duluoz bookshop.2 De Acá, on Calle 3A, opens Tuesday to Sunday 11:30–19:00 and serves vegan dishes. On Avenida 9, October Six Café Bistró and Café Miel Garage are a few blocks apart, and Nomos and La Ventana del Puente share Calle 17.
Festival days and evenings
The Festival Amón Cultural opens the houses up; its fourth edition, on 3 March 2018, spread 100 activities over 42 venues in Amón and Otoya.2 After dark the barrio is quiet and, in Rough Guides' words, still seedy in parts, so take a taxi between cafés and restaurants at night.4
Sources
- Barrio Amón, Wikipedia (Spanish), accessed October 2026
- Amón renace por la cultura: la nueva vida del barrio más elegante, La Nación (Fernando Chaves Espinach, February 24, 2018), accessed October 2026
- Casa Amarilla (Costa Rica), Wikipedia (Spanish), accessed October 2026
- Barrios Amón and Otoya, Rough Guides, accessed October 2026
- Parque Morazán, Wikipedia (Spanish), accessed October 2026
- Café Otoya Bistró, Café Otoya (website, 2023), accessed October 2026
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FAQ
Barrio Amón & Otoya cafés: questions
Who founded Barrio Amón in San José?
Barrio Amón is named after Amón Fasileau-Duplantier, a coffee businessman from Bordeaux whose brother-in-law Hipólito Tournón owned a coffee mill on the land. He proposed the barrio to the San José municipality in 1892 and signed a contract to build its streets in 1894, and the land was divided into lots in 1897.
Where is Le Café at the Alianza Francesa in San José's Barrio Amón?
Le Café is inside the Alianza Francesa at Avenida 7 and Calle 5 in Barrio Amón, a building of prefabricated metal structures imported in 1890 that the French cultural center has occupied since 1965. It serves coffee and snacks alongside temporary art exhibitions.
What is the Casa Amarilla in San José's Barrio Otoya?
The Casa Amarilla, at Avenida 7 and Calle 11 in San José, was financed by Andrew Carnegie and completed in 1916 for the Central American Court of Justice, which never sat there. It now houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Hija café is on Avenida 7, 50 m east of the building.
For café owners
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