Puntarenas - anyone go to Sarchi?

I'm reading that Sarchi is to be the handcraft place to visit.... not that I want an Ox Cart :D but they say over 200 shops.... anyone been there? Was it worth it to you? Variety? Priced reasonably? How did you get there and how long did it take you? Thanks!

Went to Sarchi as part of a ship tour. We visited a coffee plantation in the morning, had a nice lunch in Sarchi near the main square by the church.

then went to the shop where we learned all about the carts. Toured their workworking shop and saw folks carving the carts, and other doing the painting. this is all in a large shop with nice courtyard and a retail sotre acorss the court yard. The shop sells lots of other stuff all from Costa Rica. i bought some nice wood jewelry, platters and bowels.

A couple on our tour bought a nicely painted cart. It was in a size that makes a great bar for a patio. Really nice stuff. they had it shipped to the US.

I had been to Costa Rica before and missed going to Sarchi. I enjoyed my time there as part of the tour.

We stopped there when we were in Costa Rica for a week. It was ok, but very touristy, of course. I don't think I would go again, but if you are very interested in souvenirs, it's got a lot.

We didn't tour any of the hand-crafted factories, so maybe that would have made it more interesting. To me, it was just another shopping stop.

I'm reading that Sarchi is to be the handcraft place to visit.... not that I want an Ox Cart :D but they say over 200 shops.... anyone been there? Was it worth it to you? Variety? Priced reasonably? How did you get there and how long did it take you? Thanks!

We have been twice and enjoyed it both times. Be prepared to spend big bucks. I love the hand carved wooden box about 2 feet by 1 foot that we bought and had shipped. I would love to have a large ox cart and would buy one and have it shipped if I went back. I would think $1000 should get a nice one, but may be $2000.

they have a wonderful array of carved wood products reasonably priced. We took a tour from the ship. The roads in Costa Rica are few and everyone and every conveyance travels them. Some at the very same time so there are traffic jams and accidents. There used to be a tour to the capital but ships gave up on that one as there were too many jams and accidents; too long to wait for tour return.

I was there in January as part of a ship excursion. We were taken to a cart making shop that had a very nice souvenir shop.

Here is a link to my blog post for that day as well as pictures.

http://kathisworldvoyage.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html

tourist trap. some neat stuff but some HIGH priced neat stuff.