VacationSelector
Tempio Voltiano on the lakeshore, Como
ComoTempio Voltiano on the lakeshore
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: Como by Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Como 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 Como for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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. Como 36, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Como 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Como leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Como 52, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Como leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Como 22, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Como 82, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Como leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Como 87, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Como leads by 75 points.
Good for families. Como 47, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Como leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Como 66, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Como leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Como 42, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Como leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Como 30, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Como leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Como 34, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Como leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Como 44, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Como and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Como
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on beaches 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.

Como in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
158 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
ComoSanta Teresa, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

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. Como: 1991-2020 normals, Lugano (23 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureComoSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation201 m19 m
Main airportMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)34 km from centre208 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureComoSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population83,184-
People per km²2,242-
Museums within 10 km110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km80
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Como 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. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.