VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Jerusalem 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 Jerusalem for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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.

Beaches & swimming. Jerusalem 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Jerusalem leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Jerusalem leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Jerusalem leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Jerusalem leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Jerusalem leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Jerusalem leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Jerusalem leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches 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.

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °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
JerusalemSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem 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. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageHebrewSpanish
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102911
Elevation754 m1,161 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population1,050,151335,007
People per km²8,3747,511
Museums within 10 km699
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.