VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

New York 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 New York for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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. New York 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: New York leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: New York leads by 50 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: New York leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: New York leads by 57 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Day trips. New York 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: New York leads by 16 points.
Good for families. New York 70, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: New York leads by 26 points.
Getting around. New York 82, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: New York leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: New York leads by 61 points.
Affordability. New York 12, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: New York leads by 61 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: New York leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts 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.

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 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
New YorkSan 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. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation25 m1,161 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population8,804,190335,007
People per km²7,2567,511
Museums within 10 km1579
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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