VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Skiers in front of the big timber lodge at the resort, Winter Park, Colorado
Winter Park, ColoradoSkiers in front of the big timber lodge at the resort

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

San Jose, Costa Rica or Winter Park, Colorado?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Winter Park, Colorado for

  • families
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Winter Park, Colorado’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, Winter Park, Colorado 5: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Winter Park, Colorado 24: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Winter Park, Colorado 6: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Winter Park, Colorado 15: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Winter Park, Colorado 88: Winter Park, Colorado leads by 10 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Winter Park, Colorado 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Winter Park, Colorado 62: Winter Park, Colorado leads by 18 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Winter Park, Colorado 42: Winter Park, Colorado leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Winter Park, Colorado 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 24 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Winter Park, Colorado 25: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Winter Park, Colorado 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Winter Park, Colorado 46: Winter Park, Colorado leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Winter Park, Colorado.

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 culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Winter Park, Colorado
31match

Wins on families 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

Winter Park, Colorado in July

21 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaWinter Park, Colorado

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.

Winter Park, Colorado's temperatures are measured 90 km from the centre, at Leadville / Stringtown.

Winter Park, Colorado's station stands 269 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Winter Park, Colorado 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). Winter Park, Colorado: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Leadville / Stringtown (89.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWinter Park, Colorado
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,161 m2,759 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsDenver International Airport (DEN)95 km from centre231 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaWinter Park, Colorado
City population335,0071,033
People per km²7,51124
Museums within 10 km90
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 Winter Park, Colorado 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.