VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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. Fort Lauderdale 88, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Fort Lauderdale leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Fort Lauderdale leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Fort Lauderdale leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and families 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.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °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
Fort LauderdaleSan 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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m1,161 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population182,760335,007
People per km²1,8297,511
Museums within 10 km69
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.