Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
San Jose, Costa Rica or Santa Fe?
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
- nightlife
- beaches
What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.
Choose Santa Fe for
- culture and sights
- wellness
- shopping
What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Santa Fe.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights 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.
San Jose, Costa Rica in July
Santa Fe in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Santa Fe 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. San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | San Jose, Costa Rica | Santa Fe |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | - |
| Currency | Costa Rican Colon (CRC) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-6 | UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 1,161 m | 2,134 m |
| Main airport | Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations | Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | San Jose, Costa Rica | Santa Fe |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 335,007 | 87,505 |
| People per km² | 7,511 | 645 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 10 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Santa Fe somewhere new.