VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • beaches

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. Johannesburg 5, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Johannesburg leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 52.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 28.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
Best match
47match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgSan 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. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m1,161 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population4,803,262335,007
People per km²2,9227,511
Museums within 10 km149
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Johannesburg 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.