VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square, Skopje
SkopjeThe Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Skopje by George M. Groutas, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Skopje?

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

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Skopje for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Skopje’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, Skopje 6: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Skopje 52: Skopje leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Skopje 56: Skopje leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Skopje 42: Skopje leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Skopje 70: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Skopje 56: Skopje leads by 4 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Skopje 35: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 9 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Skopje 45: Skopje leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Skopje 40: Skopje leads by 4 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Skopje 80: Skopje leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica and Skopje are level on 38.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Skopje 27: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Skopje.

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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

Skopje
Best match
46match

Wins on prices 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
13 hdaylight a day

Skopje in July

32 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSkopje

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.

Skopje has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Skopje's sunshine is measured 68 km from the centre, at Stip.

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). Skopje: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Skopje-Petrovec (18.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSkopje
Official languageSpanishAlbanian, Macedonian
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Denar (MKD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m251 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSkopje International Airport (SKP)16 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSkopje
City population335,007422,540
People per km²7,511739
Museums within 10 km917
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

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