VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Zurich?

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

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica 78, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 2 points.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 30 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Zurich 3: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Zurich.

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 with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and beaches 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m408 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaZurich
City population335,007440,935
People per km²7,5115,016
Museums within 10 km963
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Zurich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.