VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Palms at CityPlace on Rosemary Avenue, West Palm Beach
West Palm BeachPalms at CityPlace on Rosemary Avenue

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; West Palm Beach by Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or West Palm Beach?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose West Palm Beach for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on West Palm Beach’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, West Palm Beach 80: West Palm Beach leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, West Palm Beach 52: West Palm Beach leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, West Palm Beach 42: West Palm Beach leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, West Palm Beach 36: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, West Palm Beach 58: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 20 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, West Palm Beach 55: West Palm Beach leads by 3 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, West Palm Beach 66: West Palm Beach leads by 22 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, West Palm Beach 38: West Palm Beach leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, West Palm Beach 64: West Palm Beach leads by 28 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, West Palm Beach 23: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, West Palm Beach 47: West Palm Beach leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, West Palm Beach 44: West Palm Beach leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and West Palm Beach.

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.

West Palm Beach
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and shopping 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

West Palm Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaWest Palm Beach

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). West Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWest Palm Beach
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 m6 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWest Palm Beach
City population335,007117,415
People per km²7,511786
Museums within 10 km94
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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