Best Value Strip Club in "Gringo Gulch"

My buddy and I were in Costa Rica to sample some nature and figured it would be a shame to leave without sniffing some of the local flowers. There are numerous mongering options in Costa Rica, and in the downtown part of San Jose, littered with hotels, restaurants, casinos, pickup bars, massage parlors and yes, strip clubs. Alcazar is located on the edge of the "safe" downtown area where the road heads down into the toughest part of the city. It is all safe enough to walk alone during daylight hours but after dark you should take a cab both to and from. Since the club doesn't open until 9pm (it closes at 5am) you should take a cab unless you have a rental car. In that case there is a lot for a few dollars right across the street. An ex-pat friend of mine who lives here says that many of the Costa Rican strip clubs are overpriced tourist traps but that Alcazar gives good value for the money so he volunteered to take us. If you don't have more than survival Spanish I would not go here alone but two or more gringos will do just fine. He said the club really gets going at 10 and hits its prime around 10pm to 1am so we aimed for that window.

When you walk in you will be met just inside the door by the bouncers. Its a 6,000 colonnes cover (12$) and that includes either 3 very weak mixed drinks or 2 beer. They give you little drink tickets which you can exchange with your waiter for what you want.

The club itself seats maybe a hundred people amybe a few more if it were packed. It is neither plush like a high end Vegas club but it is modern with lots of booths and tables, It has the decor of a Denny's with plastic booths, tables but with naked women. It is comfortably but dimly lit and the sound level was just low enough to enable conversation. The music when we were there was all classic rock and stripper anthems. They must have a single one hour tape on continuous loop as in the two plus hours I was there I must have heard T-Pain's, "I am in love with a stripper" three times. There is a large rectangualar stage with booths around it in a horseshoe and a second level of booths raised a few steps separated by an aisle. The apron in front of the stage has a few extra rows of tables, maybe 4 sets before there is a large full service bar which takes up the back wall. The clientele was 90% Costa Rican when we were there...we were the only "gringos" in the place but we were made to feel welcome by both staff and fellow customers. It was hard to get a dancer count but I would say there were probably between 20 and 30 dancers there and roughly half as many customers. The girls varied in hair colour and some looked softer than others but most if not all had the same body type... young, pretty and thin. A first for me I didn't see one overweight past-her-prime stripper not did I see anyone who had surgically enhanced "stripper tits". All had various outfits on ranging from barely there bikinis with many in skimpy lingerie and "fuck me" boots. A few sported costumes like a princess, a schoolgirl or a flight attendant. The waiters are all male, dressed in black.. sort of like the Hong Kong club in Tijuana if you have ever been there.