VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
Fishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Santa Teresa, Costa RicaFishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu 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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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.

Beaches & swimming. Puerto Iguazu 5, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Puerto Iguazu leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Puerto Iguazu leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Puerto Iguazu leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Puerto Iguazu leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Puerto Iguazu leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Puerto Iguazu leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Puerto Iguazu leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
218 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSanta Teresa, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

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. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-6
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m19 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population54,903-
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu or Santa Teresa, 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). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.