VacationSelector
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Plovdiv 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 Plovdiv for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

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. Plovdiv 7, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Plovdiv 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Plovdiv leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Plovdiv 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Plovdiv leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Plovdiv 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Plovdiv leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Plovdiv 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Plovdiv 70, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Plovdiv leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Plovdiv 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Plovdiv 65, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Plovdiv leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Plovdiv 33, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Plovdiv 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Plovdiv leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Plovdiv 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Plovdiv leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Plovdiv 44, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Plovdiv leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Plovdiv and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Plovdiv
Best match
50match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 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
PlovdivSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Plovdiv 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.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

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. Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePlovdivSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageBulgarianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation172 m1,161 m
Main airportPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePlovdivSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population333,994335,007
People per km²3,2747,511
Museums within 10 km189
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 Plovdiv 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.