VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

London 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 London for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. London 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: London leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. London 84, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: London leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: London leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. London 88, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: London leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 21 points.
Day trips. London 90, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: London leads by 38 points.
Good for families. London 82, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: London leads by 38 points.
Getting around. London 85, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: London leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: London leads by 59 points.
Affordability. London 15, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: London leads by 60 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: London leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 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
LondonSan 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. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation4 m1,161 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population8,799,728335,007
People per km²5,5987,511
Museums within 10 km2169
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40

Where else could you go?

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