VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
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: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Geneva 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 Geneva for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • 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. Geneva 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Geneva leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Geneva leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Geneva leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Geneva leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Geneva leads by 68 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Geneva leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Geneva leads by 71 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Geneva leads by 56 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Geneva leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Geneva
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 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
GenevaSanta 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. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation403 m19 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population211,152-
People per km²13,280-
Museums within 10 km340
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 Geneva or Santa Teresa, Costa Rica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. 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.

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.