VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter

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

San Jose, Costa Rica or Victoria Falls?

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

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria Falls’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, Victoria Falls 7: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Victoria Falls 24: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Victoria Falls 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Victoria Falls 8: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Victoria Falls 94: Victoria Falls leads by 16 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Victoria Falls 22: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 30 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Victoria Falls 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Victoria Falls 45: Victoria Falls leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Victoria Falls 18: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Victoria Falls 32: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Victoria Falls 10: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Victoria Falls 34: Victoria Falls leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Victoria Falls.

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 nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Victoria Falls
29match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaVictoria Falls

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). Victoria Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVictoria Falls
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Barwe
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+2
Emergency number911999
Elevation1,161 m961 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVictoria Falls
City population335,00733,060
People per km²7,511-
Museums within 10 km92
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 Victoria Falls 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. 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.