VacationSelector
The Mezquita and the Roman bridge, Cordoba
CordobaThe Mezquita and the Roman bridge
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: Cordoba by Jose María Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cordoba 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 Cordoba for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Cordoba 14, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Cordoba 62, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Cordoba leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Cordoba 81, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Cordoba leads by 77 points.
Nightlife. Cordoba 40, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Cordoba leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cordoba 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Cordoba 86, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Cordoba leads by 74 points.
Good for families. Cordoba 40, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Cordoba leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cordoba 68, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Cordoba leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Cordoba 38, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Cordoba leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Cordoba 63, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Cordoba leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cordoba 47, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Cordoba leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cordoba 40, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cordoba and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Cordoba
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cordoba in July

37 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 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
CordobaSanta 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. Cordoba: 1991-2020 normals, Cordoba / Aeropuerto (7.6 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCordobaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation120 m19 m
Main airportCórdoba Airport (ODB)8 km from centre3 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCordobaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population323,262-
People per km²258-
Museums within 10 km160
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Cordoba 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.