VacationSelector
La Paz
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

La Paz 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 La Paz for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • families
  • wellness
  • 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. La Paz 3, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. La Paz 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: La Paz leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. La Paz 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: La Paz leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. La Paz 38, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. La Paz 82, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: La Paz leads by 4 points.
Day trips. La Paz 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Good for families. La Paz 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 34 points.
Getting around. La Paz 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: La Paz leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. La Paz 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: La Paz leads by 9 points.
Affordability. La Paz 92, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: La Paz leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. La Paz 35, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. La Paz 12, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: La Paz 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, 1 point apart

La Paz
42match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on families 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.

La Paz in July

13 °Cdaytime high
-2 °Cnight-time low
16 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
La PazSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

La Paz has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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. La Paz: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLa PazSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua, GuaraniSpanish
CurrencyBoliviano (BOB)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAC50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation3,640 m1,161 m
Main airportEl Alto International Airport (LPB)6 km from centre12 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLa PazSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population755,732335,007
People per km²1,6017,511
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow La Paz or San Jose, Costa Rica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.