VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

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

Brussels 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 Brussels for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Brussels 18, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Brussels leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Brussels leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Brussels leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Brussels leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Brussels leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Brussels leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Brussels leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Brussels leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Brussels leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Brussels leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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.

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
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
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsSan 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. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageFrench, German, DutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation70 m1,161 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population195,546335,007
People per km²5,9087,511
Museums within 10 km1069
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km100

Where else could you go?

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