American Airlines Flights from San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) to Miami (MIA)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on American Airlines, which operates 3 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) to Miami (MIA), departing between 8:00am and 3:10pm. Usually an Airbus A300-600 is flown for this route, with in-seat power sources available. Generally, audio programming is offered on this route. The average travel time from San Jose, Costa Rica to Miami, FL is 2 hours and 50 minutes.
During your Miami vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
United in Elián House
It was only a matter of time. After Elián González was rescued from a raft off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in November 1999, he lived in this modest, now famous, Little Havana house with relatives for 5 months before being reunited with his father and returned to Cuba in a storm of controversy. For Cuban nationals, the house became a shrine and the boy became a symbol for their struggle. There are collages of Elián all over the house; there's also trash in the yard as if someone still actually lives there. Apparently there was no time to clean up before the throngs of curiosity seekers came and the place was turned into a museum. Visitors receive a sticker with "the picture" of when the boy was seized by Federal marshals and returned to his father -- a day of infamy in Cuban-American history. See where Elián lived, played, breathed, and ate. See Elián's toys. See where the international media camped out for 5 months. See where relatives cried for the cameras. You get the picture.
The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Sometimes referred to as the "Hearst Castle of the East," this magnificent villa is more Gatsby-esque than anything else you'll find in Miami. It was built in 1916 as a winter retreat for James Deering, co-founder and former vice president of International Harvester. The industrialist was fascinated by 16th-century art and architecture and his ornate mansion, which took 1,000 artisans 5 years to build, became a celebration of that period. If you love antiques, this place is a dream come true, packed with European relics and works of art from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Most of the original furnishings, including dishes and paintings, are still intact. You will see very early versions of a telephone switchboard, central vacuum cleaning system, elevators, and fire sprinklers. A free guided tour of the 34 furnished rooms on the first floor takes about 45 minutes. The second floor, which consists mostly of bedrooms, is open to tour on your own. The spectacularly opulent villa wraps itself around a central courtyard. Outside, lush formal gardens, accented with statuary, balustrades, and decorative urns, front an enormous swath of Biscayne Bay. Definitely take the tour of the rooms, but immediately thereafter, you will want to wander and get lost in the resplendent gardens.
Miami Duck Tours
Hands down, this is the corniest, kookiest tour in the entire city. In fact, the company prefers to call these tours the "Quackiest" way to visit Miami and the Beaches. Whatever you call it, it's weird. The Watson Willy is the first of several planned Miami Duck Tours "vesicles," not a body party, but a hybrid name that means part vessel, part vehicle (technical name: Hydra Terra Amphibious Vehicle). Each "vesicle" seats 49 guests, plus a captain and tour guide and leaves from Watson Island behind Parrot Jungle Island, traveling through downtown Miami and South Beach. If you're image conscious, you may want to reconsider traveling down Ocean Drive in a duck. That's right, a duck, which is what the "vesicle" looks like. After driving the streets in the duck, you'll end up cruising Biscayne Bay, past all the swanky houses. Embarrassing or downright hilarious, Miami Duck Tours is definitely something unique.
Albion Hotel
An architectural masterpiece, originally designed in 1939 by internationally acclaimed architect Igor Polevitzky (of Havana's legendary Hotel Nacional fame), this sleek, modern, nautical-style hotel was once the local headquarters for Abbie Hoffman and the Students for a Democratic Society during the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami. Though it was totally renovated under the guidance of the hip hotel family, the Rubells, the hotel still maintains a neo-hippie democratic feeling of peace, love, and togetherness -- albeit with a hipster twist. Recently, however, the Albion has fallen off the hipster radar somewhat and is in desperate need of a sprucing up of its lobby and pool areas, which are showing serious signs of age. Despite its location 2 blocks from the beach, a large portholed pool and artificial beach are enough to keep you at the property and off the real beach. Rooms are industrial chic, and, for some people, not very warm, though recent renovations have taken a little of the edge off. Penthouse 9 is the hotel's most popular -- especially for private, in-room parties. The staff is wonderful and cookies at the registration desk make you feel as if you're a guest in someone's home and not a hotel. While there is no restaurant in the hotel, for lighter fare, the mezzanine-level Pantry provides snacks and continental breakfast items. For those looking for a scene, however, the Albion is definitely not the place to stay. It's more of a hotel for quiet, hip intellectual types rather than those who prefer to be on parade.
Conrad Miami
Although you won't find ubiquitous Hilton heiresses Paris and Nicky at this business oriented hotel (they hang out on South Beach), you will find luxury-lovers who have no interest in minimalism and J-Lo spottings and, instead, prefer to bask in the Hilton brand of luxury. The Conrad Miami joins its London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Brussels, and New York siblings in the form of this 203-room, 36-floor skyscraper located in the heart of Miami's financial district, which opened in January 2004. While at first you may feel as if you're in an office building, once you walk over the bridge across a sparkling pool, visions of cramped cubicles and bad lighting will immediately disappear. The lobby is located on the 26th floor, which is illuminated by a magnificent atrium that shares the attention with a restaurant, lounge, and bar and splits the difference between the 203-guest rooms and the 116 fully serviced luxury apartments. All rooms feature hyper-high-tech amenities such as flatscreen TVs, and, best of all, INNCOM, a bedside remote that controls all lights, thermostat, and do not disturb signs in the room. Because this is a condo-hotel, expect nothing but the best in amenities, including a superbly-equipped fitness center, two tennis courts, and a remarkable swimming pool. Also set to open is an upscale retail center, with stores in which only the likes of the Hilton sisters can afford to shop.
Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove
The third and smallest of Miami's Ritz-Carlton hotels opened with a quiet splash in fall 2002, and it is hands down the most intimate of its properties, surrounded by 2 acres of tropical gardens and overlooking Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline. Decorated in an Italian Renaissance design, the hotel's understated luxury is a welcome addition to an area known for its gaudiness. In addition to the usual Ritz-Carlton standard of service and comfort, the hotel has an excellent, extremely elegant restaurant (with footstools for women to put their purses on, how classy!), Biscaya Grill, whose executive chef, Willis Loughhead, hails from South Beach's much friskier (and since he left, less stellar) Tantra restaurant.
