VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Madrid 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 Madrid for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • 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. Madrid 5, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Madrid leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Madrid leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Madrid leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Madrid leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 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
MadridSan 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. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation663 m1,161 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population3,506,730335,007
People per km²5,8017,511
Museums within 10 km889
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 Madrid 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). 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. 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.