VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Beijing 6, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Beijing leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Beijing leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Beijing leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Beijing leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Beijing leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Beijing leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Beijing leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Beijing leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
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
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingSan 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. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation43 m1,161 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population21,893,095335,007
People per km²1,3347,511
Museums within 10 km839
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing 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.