VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • getting around

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. Los Angeles 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Los Angeles leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Los Angeles leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Los Angeles leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Los Angeles leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Los Angeles leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices 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.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSan 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. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSan 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
Elevation106 m1,161 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population3,898,747335,007
People per km²2,9947,511
Museums within 10 km399
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.