Photos: Huatulco by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.
Huatulco 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 Huatulco for
- beaches
- wellness
- families
What lies behind each score is written up on Huatulco’s own page.
Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for
- live music and the arts
- culture and sights
- nightlife
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.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Huatulco and San Jose, Costa Rica.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Huatulco in July
San Jose, Costa Rica in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Huatulco's temperatures are measured 42 km from the centre, at Puerto Angel, Oax..
Huatulco's station stands 177 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Huatulco 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. Huatulco: 1991-2020 normals, Puerto Angel, Oax. (42.2 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Huatulco | San Jose, Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | Spanish |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | Costa Rican Colon (CRC) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-6 | UTC-6 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 220 m | 1,161 m |
| Main airport | Bahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations | Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Huatulco | San Jose, Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 7,409 | 335,007 |
| People per km² | - | 7,511 |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 9 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| 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 Huatulco or San Jose, Costa Rica somewhere new.