VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Xi'an?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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, Xi'an 4: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Xi'an 62: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 16 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 28 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 14 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Xi'an.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

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 recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaXi'an

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). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaXi'an
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation1,161 m405 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaXi'an
City population335,00712,952,907
People per km²7,5111,283
Museums within 10 km99
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Xi'an 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.