VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Tangier?

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
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tangier for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Tangier 58: Tangier leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Tangier 57: Tangier leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Tangier 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Tangier 55: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Tangier 72: Tangier leads by 20 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Tangier 35: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 9 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Tangier 40: Tangier leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Tangier 42: Tangier leads by 6 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Tangier 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Tangier 50: Tangier 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 Tangier.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Tangier
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaTangier

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). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTangier
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1
Emergency number911Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation1,161 m56 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTangier
City population335,0071,275,428
People per km²7,5116,393
Museums within 10 km96
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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