VacationSelector
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Quebec City 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 Quebec City for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices

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. Quebec City 18, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Quebec City leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Quebec City 57, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Quebec City leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Quebec City 70, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Quebec City leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Quebec City 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Quebec City leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quebec City 79, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: Quebec City leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Quebec City 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Quebec City leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Quebec City 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Quebec City leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Quebec City 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Quebec City leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Quebec City 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Quebec City leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Quebec City 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quebec City 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Quebec City leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quebec City 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Quebec City leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Quebec City and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Quebec City
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Quebec City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
119 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Quebec CitySan 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. Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuebec CitySan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation98 m1,161 m
Main airportQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuebec CitySan Jose, Costa Rica
City population574,482335,007
People per km²1,1847,511
Museums within 10 km169
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Quebec City 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.