VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
Minato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock, Yokohama
YokohamaMinato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Yokohama by Yoshio Kohara, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Yokohama?

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

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

Choose Yokohama for

  • getting around
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Yokohama’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, Yokohama 46: Yokohama leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Yokohama 72: Yokohama leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Yokohama 55: Yokohama leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Yokohama 44: Yokohama leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Yokohama 66: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 12 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Yokohama 86: Yokohama leads by 34 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Yokohama 86: Yokohama leads by 42 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Yokohama 87: Yokohama leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Yokohama 60: Yokohama leads by 24 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Yokohama 55: Yokohama leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Yokohama 56: Yokohama leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Yokohama 60: Yokohama 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 Yokohama.

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 with your weighting.

Yokohama
Best match
64match

Wins on getting around and families 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Yokohama in July

28 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaYokohama

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.

Yokohama's sunshine is measured 29 km from the centre, at Tokyo.

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). Yokohama: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Yokohama (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaYokohama
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation1,161 m24 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaYokohama
City population335,0073,757,630
People per km²7,5118,585
Museums within 10 km938
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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