VacationSelector
Fishing boats in the harbour, La Spezia
La SpeziaFishing boats in the harbour
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: La Spezia by Irina Balashova, Pexels License; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

La Spezia 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 La Spezia for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. La Spezia 60, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. La Spezia 58, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: La Spezia leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. La Spezia 40, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: La Spezia leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. La Spezia 28, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. La Spezia 79, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: La Spezia leads by 1 points.
Day trips. La Spezia 87, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: La Spezia leads by 75 points.
Good for families. La Spezia 48, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: La Spezia leads by 13 points.
Getting around. La Spezia 70, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: La Spezia leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. La Spezia 35, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: La Spezia leads by 23 points.
Affordability. La Spezia 50, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: La Spezia leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. La Spezia 28, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: La Spezia leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. La Spezia 32, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: La Spezia and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

La Spezia
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

La Spezia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
20 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 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
La SpeziaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

La Spezia's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Pisa / S. Giusto.

La Spezia 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. La Spezia: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (64.8 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLa SpeziaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m19 m
Main airportPisa International Airport (PSA)65 km from centre82 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLa SpeziaSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population92,119-
People per km²1,792-
Museums within 10 km120
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow La Spezia 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.