VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
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: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik 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 Reykjavik for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • prices

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. Reykjavik 12, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Reykjavik leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Reykjavik leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Reykjavik leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Reykjavik leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Reykjavik leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Reykjavik leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 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
ReykjavikSanta 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. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageIcelandicSpanish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m19 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population138,772-
People per km²569-
Museums within 10 km230
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.