VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Viru Gate, Tallinn
TallinnThe Viru Gate

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Tallinn by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Tallinn?

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 Tallinn for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tallinn’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, Tallinn 28: Tallinn leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Tallinn 52: Tallinn leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Tallinn 68: Tallinn leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Tallinn 44: Tallinn leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Tallinn 55: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Tallinn 58: Tallinn leads by 6 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Tallinn 60: Tallinn leads by 16 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Tallinn 72: Tallinn leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Tallinn 40: Tallinn leads by 4 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Tallinn 47: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Tallinn 50: Tallinn leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Tallinn 50: Tallinn leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Tallinn.

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.

Tallinn
Best match
52match

Wins on getting around 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Tallinn in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaTallinn

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). Tallinn: 1991-2020 normals, Tallin / Harku (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTallinn
Official languageSpanishEstonian
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m28 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsLennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL)6 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTallinn
City population335,007457,572
People per km²7,5112,871
Museums within 10 km916
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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