VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Toronto?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Toronto for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Toronto 70: Toronto leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Toronto 50: Toronto leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Toronto 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Toronto 50: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 30 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Toronto 65: Toronto leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 30 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Toronto 34: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Toronto 33: Toronto leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Toronto.

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.

Toronto
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaToronto

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). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaToronto
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m76 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaToronto
City population335,0072,794,356
People per km²7,5114,434
Museums within 10 km932
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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