VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Cusco 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 Cusco for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • families
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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. Cusco 3, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Cusco leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Cusco leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: Cusco leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Cusco leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Cusco leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Cusco leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Cusco leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Cusco leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Cusco
Best match
49match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

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. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m1,161 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population428,450335,007
People per km²-7,511
Museums within 10 km119
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 Cusco 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.