Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Cancun or San Jose?
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 Cancun for
- beaches
- nightlife
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Cancun’s own page.
Choose San Jose for
- culture and sights
- live music and the arts
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and San Jose.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Cancun in July
San Jose in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Cancun has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cancun: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Cancun | San Jose |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | - |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 5 m | 25 m |
| Main airport | Cancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinations | Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cancun | San Jose |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 888,797 | 1,013,240 |
| People per km² | - | 2,167 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 19 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or San Jose somewhere new.