VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu or San Jose?

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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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. Puerto Iguazu 5, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, San Jose 36: San Jose leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, San Jose 33: San Jose leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, San Jose 72: Puerto Iguazu leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, San Jose 30: Puerto Iguazu leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, San Jose 20: Puerto Iguazu leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, San Jose 30: Puerto Iguazu leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and San Jose.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

San Jose
Best match
45match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Jose
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m25 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Jose
City population54,9031,013,240
People per km²-2,167
Museums within 10 km019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu or San Jose 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.