VacationSelector
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Mendoza 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 Mendoza for

  • wellness
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

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

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. Mendoza 6, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Mendoza 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Mendoza leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Mendoza 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Mendoza and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Mendoza 83, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: Mendoza leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Mendoza and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 52.
Good for families. Mendoza 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Mendoza 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Mendoza leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Mendoza 33, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Mendoza 56, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Mendoza leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mendoza 33, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mendoza 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Mendoza leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mendoza and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Mendoza
Best match
46match

Wins on wellness and food and drink with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
10 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
MendozaSan 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. Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMendozaSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-6
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation769 m1,161 m
Main airportGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMendozaSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population127,160335,007
People per km²2,3557,511
Museums within 10 km19
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 Mendoza 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). 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.