VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Mountain Village under snow, seen from the gondola, Telluride
TellurideMountain Village under snow, seen from the gondola

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Telluride by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Telluride?

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
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Telluride for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Telluride’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, Telluride 5: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Telluride 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Telluride 20: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Telluride 20: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Telluride 93: Telluride leads by 15 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Telluride 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Telluride 45: Telluride leads by 1 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Telluride 66: Telluride leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Telluride 25: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 11 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Telluride 7: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Telluride 35: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Telluride 45: Telluride leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Telluride.

Your match

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

San Jose, Costa Rica
Best match
41match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Telluride
36match

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
13 hdaylight a day

Telluride in July

23 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaTelluride

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.

Telluride 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). Telluride: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Telluride / Lime (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTelluride
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m2,667 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsMontrose Regional Airport (MTJ)64 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaTelluride
City population335,0072,607
People per km²7,5111,372
Museums within 10 km90
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 Telluride 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.