VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Vienna?

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 Vienna for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Vienna leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Vienna 68: Vienna leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Vienna 50: Vienna leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Vienna 62: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Vienna 74: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 33 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 26 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Vienna 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Vienna.

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.

Vienna
Best match
66match

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 recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaVienna

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). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVienna
Official languageSpanishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m151 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaVienna
City population335,0072,028,289
People per km²7,5114,890
Museums within 10 km9152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03

Where else could you go?

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