Photos: Playa del Carmen by lazyweaver, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
Playa del Carmen or Santa Teresa, 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 Playa del Carmen for
- day trips
- families
- getting around
What lies behind each score is written up on Playa del Carmen’s own page.
Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for
- wellness
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Teresa, 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.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Playa del Carmen and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.
Wins on wellness 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.
Playa del Carmen in July
Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Playa del Carmen has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.
Santa Teresa, Costa Rica's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Puntarenas.
Santa Teresa, Costa Rica has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Playa del Carmen: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Santa Teresa, Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | Spanish |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | Costa Rican Colon (CRC) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-6 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 8 m | 19 m |
| Main airport | Cancún International Airport (CUN)50 km from centre135 non-stop destinations | Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Santa Teresa, Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 304,942 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Playa del Carmen or Santa Teresa, Costa Rica somewhere new.