VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Savannah City Hall and its golden dome, Savannah
SavannahSavannah City Hall and its golden dome

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Savannah by Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Savannah?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Savannah for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Savannah’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, Savannah 55: Savannah leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Savannah 58: Savannah leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Savannah 68: Savannah leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Savannah 52: Savannah leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Savannah 48: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 30 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Savannah 60: Savannah leads by 8 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Savannah 50: Savannah leads by 6 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Savannah 58: Savannah leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Savannah 42: Savannah leads by 6 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Savannah 35: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Savannah.

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 prices with your weighting.

Savannah
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches 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 seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Savannah in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
144 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSavannah

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). Savannah: 1991-2020 normals, Savannah Airport (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSavannah
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m15 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSavannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)12 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSavannah
City population335,007147,780
People per km²7,511524
Museums within 10 km919
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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