Discoteque Castro's (Latin Dance Club & Bar)

If you are looking for a great place to take in Costa Rica nightlife, and you want to do it in true Latin-style, you'll want to check out Discoteque Castro's in Barrio Mexico of downtown San Jose.  My boyfriend and I, along with my brother Johnathan and his best friend Connie, were looking for a way to experience local Costa Rica nightlife, and we received various recommendations for Discoteque Castro's.  After dinner, we hailed a cab outside our restaurant, and we were on our way.

The exterior of Discoteque Castro's is an unassuming beige brick 2-story building.  A couple large bouncers stood outside of the entrance.  After they looked in our bags and scanned us over, we entered and were escorted by a waiter to our table.  Castro's has full meal service, in case you want to eat there, but since we had already eaten we concentrated on their extensive drink menu instead.

There is a large dance floor in the middle of the venue, with dining and seating areas all around the bottom and top floors.  The interior decor of Discoteque Castro's is supposed to look kind of "tropical", I believe.  There are tons of fake palm trees all around, and something akin to a rainforest scene right in the middle of the dance floor. The venue itself was very dark inside (which I liked), and had a real casual vibe to it.  Our group was all wearing jeans, while other guests were noticeably more dressed up.  Still, we didn't feel out of place because of this.

It was fun watching people at Discoteque Castro's strut their stuff on the dance floor.  Besides your regular disco ball lighting, there was another type of lighting that I've never seen before, which made the people on the dance floor look like moving Christmas trees (you can somewhat appreciate it in the video below).  The venue mainly plays Latin music such as salsa, merengue, cumbia and bachata.  Every once in a while the DJ threw in a popular English dance song as well.  You can see us trying to do our thing at Discoteque Castro's in the pictures below.  Then there is a a short video of others on the dance floor who actually seemed to know what they were doing:)

My brother Johnathan & His Best Friend Connie

My Boyfriend & I dancing salsa

The Outside of Discoteque Castro's

Video of Other People Having Fun on Discoteque Castro's Dance Floor

(it's Cumbia music I believe?....and notice the way they are all lit up)