VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Aswan 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 Aswan for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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. Aswan 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Aswan leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Aswan and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 52.
Good for families. Aswan 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Aswan leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Aswan leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Aswan leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
Best match
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 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
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AswanSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

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. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation99 m1,161 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population401,890335,007
People per km²1,0727,511
Museums within 10 km39
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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.