Tattoo shops in San José
Thinking about ink in San José, San José? Start with the studios: 29 are mapped here. All 29 are mapped as tattoo studios proper, and each one is worth a portfolio browse before you commit — style varies more between shops than towns. A consultation costs nothing and tells you everything about how a shop runs.
This guide covers every tattoo shop we could verify in and around San José (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Tatoo and 506 Tattoo & Piercing, plus A.K. Tattoo. If a studio's missing from San José's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet — the scene is bigger than any single dataset.
The San José tattoo lineup
29 mapped within about 40 km:
Tatoo
Tattoo studio1.1 km from San José
Tatoo — Tattoo studio, found on Avenida Monseñor Castro Jiménez in San José. Also worth knowing about Tatoo: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Avenida Monseñor Castro Jiménez, San José
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00
Phone: 8753-8683
506 Tattoo & Piercing
Tattoo studio1.3 km from San José
506 Tattoo & Piercing is Tattoo studio on 0003 Avenida 10 San Martín, San José.
0003 Avenida 10 San Martín, San José, 10104
A.K. Tattoo
Tattoo studio1.3 km from San José
A.K. Tattoo — Tattoo studio, found on 0044 Calle 5 José Daniel Zúñiga in San José.
0044 Calle 5 José Daniel Zúñiga, San José
Tattoo Boutique
Tattoo studio1.3 km from San José
Tattoo Boutique is Tattoo studio on 0054 Avenida 6 Castro Madriz, San José.
0054 Avenida 6 Castro Madriz, San José, 10104
Ritual Tattoo
Tattoo studio1.4 km from San José
Ritual Tattoo — Tattoo studio on Calle 42 Libertad de Prensa. Also worth knowing about Ritual Tattoo: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Calle 42 Libertad de Prensa
Phone: +50685325101
Arte Vida Tatoo
Tattoo studio2.1 km from San José
Arte Vida Tatoo — Tattoo studio, found on 0056 Calle 19 José Joaquín Vargas Calvo in San José.
0056 Calle 19 José Joaquín Vargas Calvo, San José
Corazón de Oro
Tattoo studio2.4 km from San José
Corazón de Oro — Tattoo studio.
Sufro Tattoo
Tattoo studio2.8 km from San José
Sufro Tattoo — Tattoo studio, found on Avenida 17 in Guadalupe.
Avenida 17, Guadalupe
Tattoo Club
Tattoo studio3.0 km from San José
Tattoo Club — Tattoo studio.
Tribal's
Tattoo studio3.2 km from San José
Tribal's is Tattoo studio. Tribal's also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 10:00-20:00.
Hours: Mo-Su 10:00-20:00
Tattoo
Tattoo studio3.7 km from San José
Tattoo is Tattoo studio on Avenida 63, San Juan de Tibás.
Avenida 63, San Juan de Tibás
Samsara Tattoo
Tattoo studio4.4 km from San José
Samsara Tattoo — Tattoo studio.
Society Tattoo Studio
Tattoo studio4.5 km from San José
Society Tattoo Studio is Tattoo studio. Society Tattoo Studio also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 11:00-18:00.
Hours: Mo-Sa 11:00-18:00
Tatoo Lounge
Tattoo studio4.5 km from San José
Tatoo Lounge — Tattoo studio on Calle 73.
Calle 73
New Skull
Tattoo studio4.5 km from San José
New Skull is Tattoo studio on Calle 73.
Calle 73
Tatuadora Mawi y Suplidora
Tattoo studio5.1 km from San José
Tatuadora Mawi y Suplidora — Tattoo studio.
Henko Studio
Tattoo studio5.6 km from San José
Henko Studio — Tattoo studio.
Cultura Tattoo CR
Tattoo studio5.9 km from San José
Cultura Tattoo CR is Tattoo studio.
Satori Studio
Tattoo studio6.4 km from San José
Satori Studio — Tattoo studio.
Stattoos Pinares
Tattoo studio7.8 km from San José
Stattoos Pinares — Tattoo studio. Also worth knowing about Stattoos Pinares: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-19:00; Su 00:00-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-19:00; Su 00:00-18:00
Phone: +506 4034 5960
Tattoo
Tattoo studio8.0 km from San José
Tattoo is Tattoo studio on Avenida 6, Heredia. Tattoo also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Avenida 6, Heredia
Phone: 8889 9615
Cerezo Tattoo
Tattoo studio8.3 km from San José
Cerezo Tattoo — Tattoo studio, found on Avenida 2 in Heredia.
Avenida 2, Heredia
Eureka Tattoo & Piercing
Tattoo studio8.4 km from San José
Eureka Tattoo & Piercing — Tattoo studio.
Suplidora Obscesión
Tattoo studio8.4 km from San José
Suplidora Obscesión is Tattoo studio on Avenida 4, Heredia.
Avenida 4, Heredia
Sailor's Grave Tattoo
Tattoo studio8.9 km from San José
Sailor's Grave Tattoo — Tattoo studio, found on Avenida 13 in Heredia.
Avenida 13, Heredia
Dragon's Ink
Tattoo studio16.0 km from San José
Dragon's Ink — Tattoo studio.
Tatuajes y Perforaciones Eclipse
Tattoo studio16.1 km from San José
Tatuajes y Perforaciones Eclipse — Tattoo studio.
Mystery
Tattoo studio19.4 km from San José
Mystery is Tattoo studio.
Tatuador
Tattoo studio21.5 km from San José
Tatuador is Tattoo studio.
What the map tells us about tattoo shops in San José
4 of the 29 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — tattoo studios often work by appointment, so posted hours can be more of a guideline than a promise.
There's a cluster: 2 of them sit on Calle 73, so you can string those into one walk and drive between the rest.
The San José tattoo shop tour
The efficient San José tattoo shop tour strings these together: Tatoo on Avenida Monseñor Castro Jiménez, 506 Tattoo & Piercing on 0003 Avenida 10 San Martín, A.K. Tattoo on 0044 Calle 5 José Daniel Zúñiga, Tattoo Boutique on 0054 Avenida 6 Castro Madriz, Ritual Tattoo on Calle 42 Libertad de Prensa, Arte Vida Tatoo on 0056 Calle 19 José Joaquín Vargas Calvo, Corazón de Oro, and Sufro Tattoo on Avenida 17 — 29 stops, one logical order. 21 more are listed below.
Tattoo tips for San José
First tattoo or fiftieth — the rules don't change in San José:
- Walk-ins mean flash, usually at Tatoo. If you want custom work, book ahead. Walk-in slots are for flash designs and small pieces.
- Avoid the cheapest shop in town at 506 Tattoo & Piercing. There's a reason it's the cheapest. With tattoos you get exactly what you pay for, permanently.
- Ask about the deposit. Custom pieces usually need a deposit that comes off the final price. Ask how it works before you sit down, not after.
- Don't pick the scabs. Healing tattoos itch and flake. Picking pulls ink out with the scab and leaves patchy spots.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around San José — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new tattoo shop in San José can take a while to appear. If you spot one of the 29 that's closed, or a great tattoo shop we missed, the fix is to update the map itself — that's where this guide reads from.
We don't rate studios or artists, and we never list prices — those are between you and the shop. What we list is the where and the how-to-find, from places real mappers have verified.
If you run one of the 29 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Tattoo shop listings for San José: 29 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.