San José

Adjust your expectations: San José doesn't have a bar circuit, it has two long-standing clubs and one comfortable neighbourhood. The essential name is La Avispa, open since 1979, one of the country's pioneering LGBTQI+ venues: two dance floors, Latin and pop music, big screens and themed parties. The other is Club El Teatro, a multi-purpose room programming queer shows and events.

What makes up for the small number of venues is Barrio Escalante, the restaurant-and-bar area where an LGBTQI+ crowd is part of the scenery without anything being labelled, with the Paseo Gastronómico La Luz as its axis. San Pedro, the university area next door, brings the young crowd and low prices. And outside the capital, the beach reference is Manuel Antonio, three to four hours away by road.

The Marcha de la Diversidad takes place in late June and is called by Pride Costa Rica. It's four kilometres through central San José: it starts at midday by the León Cortés Castro statue in La Sabana and finishes at Plaza de la Democracia, next to the Legislative Assembly, where free concerts run in the afternoon.

It is the country's largest LGBTQI+ mobilisation and among Central America's most visible, with bands, floats and stages. That said, without inflating it: local press reports hundreds of people on the streets, so don't expect São Paulo or Mexico City numbers. Its value lies elsewhere: it's a protest march in a region where almost no country recognises same-sex couples.

San José has no gay district with a bar strip. What it has is Barrio Escalante, the area where the city goes out to eat, with the Paseo Gastronómico La Luz full of restaurants, cafés and bars where a queer crowd is routine without anything being signposted. It's also the nicest area to stay.

Right next to it is San Pedro, the University of Costa Rica area: young people, low prices and weekday life. The two historic clubs, by contrast, are downtown, which by day offers museums and Plaza de la Democracia but at night is better crossed by taxi or ride app than on foot.

Costa Rica is Central America's most advanced country on LGBTQI+ rights, and the milestone is 26 May 2020: the day marriage equality took effect, the region's first, following the advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Legal name change has been possible since 2018.

Health, with a caveat that matters if you're travelling: PrEP is free through social security (CCSS) for insured people who meet the criteria, but that doesn't cover a tourist; privately it runs around 80,000-90,000 colones a month. What is free and does not require insurance is HIV testing, available through the public network. The reference body is the National HIV Council.

And the part not worth glossing over: anti-discrimination covers employment only, there is no conversion-therapy ban and social acceptance is uneven outside the capital and tourist areas.