VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or San Sebastian?

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 San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on San Sebastian’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. San Jose, Costa Rica 12, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, San Sebastian 52: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, San Sebastian 72: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, San Sebastian 40: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, San Sebastian 32: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

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

San Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSan Sebastian

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.

San Sebastian's station stands 252 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSan Sebastian
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m6 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSan Sebastian
City population335,007189,866
People per km²7,5113,118
Museums within 10 km914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or San Sebastian 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.