VacationSelector
Amalfi and its harbour below the cliff, Amalfi
AmalfiAmalfi and its harbour below the cliff
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Amalfi by Oleksandra Zelena, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Amalfi or San Jose, Costa Rica?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Amalfi for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Amalfi’s own page.

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Amalfi 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Amalfi leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Amalfi 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Amalfi leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Amalfi 36, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Amalfi 12, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amalfi 82, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: Amalfi leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Amalfi 88, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Amalfi leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Amalfi 28, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Amalfi 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Amalfi leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Amalfi 34, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Amalfi 18, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amalfi 22, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amalfi 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Amalfi leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amalfi and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Amalfi
43match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Amalfi in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
28 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AmalfiSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Amalfi's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Amalfi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amalfi: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (64.7 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmalfiSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m1,161 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)38 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmalfiSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population4,729335,007
People per km²8307,511
Museums within 10 km89
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amalfi or San Jose, Costa Rica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.