VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

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

San Jose, Costa Rica or Vancouver?

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

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 19 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Vancouver 45: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 7 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 28 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 19 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Vancouver 27: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Vancouver 50: Vancouver 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 Vancouver.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Vancouver
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and beaches 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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaVancouver

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). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVancouver
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m2 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVancouver
City population335,007662,248
People per km²7,5115,759
Museums within 10 km926
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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