VacationSelector
The Teatro Amazonas, Manaus
ManausThe Teatro Amazonas
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Manaus by Jardelsliumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Manaus or San Jose?

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 Manaus for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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. Manaus 38, San Jose 30: Manaus leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Manaus and San Jose are level on 56.
Culture & sights. Manaus 46, San Jose 36: Manaus leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Manaus 42, San Jose 33: Manaus leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manaus 86, San Jose 72: Manaus leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Manaus 12, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 66 points.
Good for families. Manaus 35, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Manaus 27, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Manaus 36, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Manaus 63, San Jose 20: Manaus leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manaus 54, San Jose 38: Manaus leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manaus 20, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manaus and San Jose.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Manaus
43match

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

San Jose
45match

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.

Manaus in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ManausSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manaus: 1991-2020 normals, Manaus (1.7 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManausSan Jose
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation92 m25 m
Main airportEduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureManausSan Jose
City population2,303,7321,013,240
People per km²2022,167
Museums within 10 km1319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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