VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Taipei?

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 Taipei for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’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, Taipei 40: Taipei leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Taipei 88: Taipei leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Taipei 68: Taipei leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Taipei 58: Taipei leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica and Taipei are level on 78.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Taipei 76: Taipei leads by 24 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Taipei 72: Taipei leads by 28 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Taipei 70: Taipei leads by 34 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Taipei 66: Taipei leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Taipei 55: Taipei leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Taipei 80: Taipei 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 Taipei.

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.

Taipei
Best match
70match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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

Taipei in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
288 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 RicaTaipei

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.

Taipei 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.

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). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTaipei
Official languageSpanishTaiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911110 or 112 or 119
Elevation1,161 m10 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTaipei
City population335,0072,429,429
People per km²7,5118,938
Museums within 10 km969
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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