Like others, I got a pretty good price for this hotel (about $40 a night) so I stayed there for 10 days. Now that I know the San Jose area a little better I will probably not return to this hotel--there are better choices--but it is a pretty good compromise. It's a nice looking old hotel with reasonable service and a mix of English and Spanish speaking tourists. You do not need to know Spanish to stay there, but knowing a little bit is helpful. Thus, you can get a bit of the local culture without quite having to "go native." Similarly, while it has a nice little bar, casino, and allows some adult activities, the hotel keeps this under enough control to make families feel welcomed too. Again, a nice blend. Not least, while off the center of town by a few blocks this hotel is not quite in the more dangerous area. I felt OK crossing the street to the 24-hour soda or walking the couple blocks to the KFC at night, but was warned by locals against venturing too far on foot in either of two directions. Oh, the restaurant and room service is OK, but they sometimes have conventions and don't serve regular guests. The soda across the street is a backup though. On the balance I would stay here before I paid more for a similarly situated hotel (easily done) but for myself now think I prefer to get further away from the downtown.

My wife and I stayed at the Europa Hotel January 17 & 18, 2005, forced to find a new hotel due to a power outage at our previous hotel. We walked the downtown streets at night getting hotel prices and luckily a friendly employee at Hotel Morazan directed us to Hotel Europa where he offered us a $42 per night price. Hotel Morazan and Europa are owned by the same company. Hotel Europa is old (built in 1911), but the room and bathroom was clean (pest free) and all the employees were very professional and helpful. They showed us the room before we reserved it, which was nice of them. Final price was $49 total per night (including taxes). Charged it to our MasterCard. The price also included cable tv, hot water, phone, American breakfast, covered parking for our rental car). The room also had a small safe for $3.00 extra per night.

If you walk in without a previous reservation mention to the reservation desk attendant that you were sent from hotel Morazan and mention the $42 rate and see if it works for you. It worked for us with no problem. Also make sure to ask for the parking and breakfast tickets.
The price is $70.00 per night if you don't ask for the lower rate.

Hotel Europa is within walking distance to the Museum (of gold, jade, art), theater, banks, souvenir shops (La Casona) and restaurants.
Enjoy,

Over Easter Break 2004, I traveled along with 28 classmates and 3 teachers to Costa Rica. We enjoyed a 10 day adventure, with the first 2 and last 2 nights being spent at the Hotel Europa. It is located in what I would call a less touristy part of town, but still not freightening. The accomodations were comfortable, clean, and cheap. There is a small casino and restaurant on site, as well as an (outdoor!!) pool. The food was terrible, but you are always only a block or two from a huge area of downtown with shops and restaurants galore. The food everywhere else in the country was great, except here. We even ended up going to a KFC one night. The staff was very accomodating, and a small tip went a long way towards clean rooms everyday. Overall, this was a good budget hotel in San Jose, but make sure you know some spanish before going there!!