VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Washington DC?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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 and Washington DC are level on 12.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Washington DC 64: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 21 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 29 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 16 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Washington DC 28: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Washington DC 26: San Jose, Costa Rica 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 Washington DC.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWashington DC
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m72 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWashington DC
City population335,007689,545
People per km²7,5113,896
Museums within 10 km998
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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