VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
Fishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Santa Teresa, Costa RicaFishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Auckland or Santa Teresa, 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 Auckland for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Teresa, 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. Auckland 68, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Auckland leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Auckland leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Auckland leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Auckland leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Auckland leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Auckland leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Auckland leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Auckland leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Auckland leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Auckland leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Auckland
Best match
53match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Auckland in July

14 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
135 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
218 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandSanta Teresa, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Auckland's station stands 189 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Puntarenas.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriSpanish
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number111911
Elevation196 m19 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population1,470,100-
People per km²2,630-
Museums within 10 km150
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or Santa Teresa, 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). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.