VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

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. Cairo 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Cairo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Cairo leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Cairo leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Cairo leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Cairo leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Cairo leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Cairo leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Cairo leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Cairo
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CairoSan 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. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoSan 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
Elevation23 m1,161 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population9,801,536335,007
People per km²18,5647,511
Museums within 10 km489
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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