VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Shanghai?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Shanghai 25: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 53 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 36 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 46 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Shanghai.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and food and drink 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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaShanghai

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). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaShanghai
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation1,161 m4 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaShanghai
City population335,00724,870,895
People per km²7,5113,922
Museums within 10 km945
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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