VacationSelector
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • day trips
  • families
  • prices

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. Las Vegas 10, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Las Vegas 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Las Vegas leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Las Vegas 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Las Vegas 88, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Las Vegas leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Las Vegas 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Las Vegas 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Las Vegas 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Las Vegas 38, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Las Vegas leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Las Vegas 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Las Vegas leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Las Vegas 35, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Las Vegas 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Las Vegas leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Las Vegas 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Las Vegas leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Las Vegas and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Las Vegas
Best match
47match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Las VegasSan 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. Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLas VegasSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation610 m1,161 m
Main airportHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLas VegasSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population641,903335,007
People per km²1,8437,511
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Las Vegas 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.