VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Valletta?

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 Valletta for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Valletta 56: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 24 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 14 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Valletta 50: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Valletta 32: Valletta leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Valletta.

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.

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on beaches 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaValletta

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). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m56 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaValletta
City population335,0075,197
People per km²7,5116,496
Museums within 10 km916
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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