VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Sapporo?

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

San Jose, Costa Rica does not lead in any category we score.

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Sapporo’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, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Sapporo 40: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 12 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 28 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Sapporo 44: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Sapporo.

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness 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

Sapporo in July

25 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSapporo

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). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSapporo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation1,161 m5 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSapporo
City population335,0071,959,313
People per km²7,5111,747
Museums within 10 km933
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Sapporo 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.