VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Whistler?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Whistler 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Whistler 20: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Whistler 42: Whistler leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 19 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Whistler 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 24 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Whistler 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Whistler 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Whistler 15: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Whistler.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaWhistler

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.

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWhistler
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m670 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWhistler
City population335,00713,982
People per km²7,51158
Museums within 10 km91
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 Whistler 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.