VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Santiago de Compostela?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Santiago de Compostela 45: Santiago de Compostela leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Santiago de Compostela 62: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Santiago de Compostela 72: Santiago de Compostela leads by 20 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Santiago de Compostela 42: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Santiago de Compostela 35: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 1 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Santiago de Compostela 64: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Santiago de Compostela 40: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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

Santiago de Compostela
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSantiago de Compostela

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). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSantiago de Compostela
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 m260 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSantiago de Compostela
City population335,007100,965
People per km²7,511459
Museums within 10 km96
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Santiago de Compostela 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.