Prior to its founding, the area around Heredia was inhabited by the native tribe that is known as the Huetares, who were commanded at the coming of the Spanish by the Cacique Garabito.

[3] In 1706 settlers from Cartago, set up a small church at a place they called "Alvirilla", which soon became more populated.

[4] Between 1716 and 1717 the settlers moved their village to the north, to a place the indigenous people called Cubujuquí.

[5] In 1751, the Bishop of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Monseñor Pedro Agustín Morel de Santa Cruz supervised the founding of the first school in Heredia, which was run by the church.

Very warm year-round, the temperatures are tempered by the amount of cloud cover that affects the area.