VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Hurghada 84, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Hurghada leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Hurghada leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Hurghada leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Hurghada leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada 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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °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
HurghadaSan 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. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation11 m1,161 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population214,247335,007
People per km²-7,511
Museums within 10 km19
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 Hurghada 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.