VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
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: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Jerusalem 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 Jerusalem for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Jerusalem 40, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Jerusalem leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Jerusalem leads by 88 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Jerusalem leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Jerusalem leads by 68 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Jerusalem leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Jerusalem leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Jerusalem leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Jerusalem leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Santa Teresa, 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 day trips with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 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
JerusalemSanta Teresa, 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.

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. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSanta Teresa, 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 m19 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population1,050,151-
People per km²8,374-
Museums within 10 km690
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem or Santa Teresa, 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.