VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Tel Aviv?

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

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Tel Aviv for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Tel Aviv leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Tel Aviv 80: Tel Aviv leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Tel Aviv 57: Tel Aviv leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Tel Aviv 82: Tel Aviv leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Tel Aviv 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 32 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Tel Aviv 68: Tel Aviv leads by 24 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Tel Aviv 64: Tel Aviv leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Tel Aviv 55: Tel Aviv leads by 19 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Tel Aviv 14: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Tel Aviv 35: Tel Aviv leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Tel Aviv.

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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

Tel Aviv
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaTel Aviv

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). Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTel Aviv
Official languageSpanishHebrew
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 100, fire 102
Elevation1,161 m5 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTel Aviv
City population335,007467,875
People per km²7,5118,998
Museums within 10 km998
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

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