VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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 Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Santa Monica 35: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Santa Monica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Santa Monica 72: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 20 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Santa Monica 14: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica and Santa Monica are level on 38.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 17 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 Monica.

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.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and families 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 seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSanta Monica

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 Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m32 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSanta Monica
City population335,00793,076
People per km²7,5114,270
Museums within 10 km919
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Santa Monica 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.