VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Hurghada or San Jose?

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

  • prices
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 30: Hurghada leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, San Jose 36: San Jose leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, San Jose 33: Hurghada leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada and San Jose are level on 72.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, San Jose 20: Hurghada leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, San Jose 30: Hurghada leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and San Jose.

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 prices and beaches with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts 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 in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaSan Jose
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation11 m25 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaSan Jose
City population214,2471,013,240
People per km²-2,167
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hurghada or San Jose 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.