VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Amsterdam 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Amsterdam leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Amsterdam leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Amsterdam leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Amsterdam leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Amsterdam leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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
AmsterdamSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

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. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m1,161 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population921,468335,007
People per km²4,2087,511
Museums within 10 km1019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.