VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Paris 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 Paris for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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. Paris 9, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Paris leads by 54 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Paris leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Paris leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Paris leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Paris leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Paris leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Paris leads by 62 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Paris leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Paris leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Paris and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights 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.

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ParisSan 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. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageFrenchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation27 m1,161 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureParisSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population2,103,778335,007
People per km²19,9607,511
Museums within 10 km2519
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 Paris 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.