VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Santa Marta?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Santa Marta 44: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Santa Marta 34: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 6 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Santa Marta 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Santa Marta 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Santa Marta 27: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 9 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Santa Marta 17: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Santa Marta 30: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Marta
Best match
46match

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.

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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSanta Marta

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. San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSanta Marta
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation1,161 m8 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSanta Marta
City population335,007505,915
People per km²7,5111,723
Museums within 10 km93
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Santa Marta 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. 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.