VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Essaouira 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 Essaouira for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Essaouira 47, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Essaouira leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Essaouira leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Essaouira leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Essaouira leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Essaouira leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Essaouira leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Essaouira leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Essaouira and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Essaouira
Best match
45match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on day trips and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Essaouira in July

22 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Essaouira 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.

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. Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m1,161 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population82,962335,007
People per km²16,5927,511
Museums within 10 km29
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 Essaouira 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). 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.