VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Varanasi?

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
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Varanasi 10: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Varanasi 18: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 60 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Varanasi 42: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Varanasi 5: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 39 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Varanasi 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 19 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Varanasi 30: Varanasi leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on culture and sights and prices 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaVaranasi

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.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVaranasi
Official languageSpanishHindi, English
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation1,161 m76 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVaranasi
City population335,0071,198,491
People per km²7,51114,598
Museums within 10 km92
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.