VacationSelector
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Riga 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 Riga for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors

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. Riga 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Riga leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Riga 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Riga leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Riga 66, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Riga leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Riga 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Riga leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Riga 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Riga 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Riga leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Riga 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Riga leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Riga 68, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Riga leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Riga 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Riga leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Riga 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Riga leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Riga 65, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Riga leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Riga 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Riga leads by 22 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Riga and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
RigaSan 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. Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRigaSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageLatvianSpanish
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
Elevation6 m1,161 m
Main airportRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRigaSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population588,911335,007
People per km²-7,511
Museums within 10 km129
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Riga 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. 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. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.