VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Dublin 27, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Dublin leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Dublin leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Dublin leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Dublin leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Dublin leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Dublin leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Dublin leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Dublin leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Dublin
Best match
53match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices 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.

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
DublinSan 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. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageEnglish, IrishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation20 m1,161 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population592,713335,007
People per km²5,1547,511
Museums within 10 km409
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dublin 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.