VacationSelector
The Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta
AtlantaThe Georgia State Capitol
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Atlanta by DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Atlanta 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 Atlanta for

  • food and drink
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Atlanta 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Atlanta 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Atlanta leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Atlanta 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Atlanta leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Atlanta 65, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Atlanta leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Atlanta 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Atlanta and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 52.
Good for families. Atlanta 70, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Atlanta leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Atlanta 28, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Atlanta 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Atlanta leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Atlanta 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Atlanta 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Atlanta leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Atlanta 33, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Atlanta leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Atlanta and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Atlanta
Best match
49match

Wins on food and drink and families with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Atlanta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
120 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AtlantaSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Atlanta 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. Atlanta: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Atlanta / Carroll Heights (12.5 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAtlantaSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation225 m1,161 m
Main airportHartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)14 km from centre238 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAtlantaSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population498,715335,007
People per km²1,4337,511
Museums within 10 km279
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Atlanta 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.