🇪🇬 Egypt or 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Which one, honestly
Egypt leads on value for money and cities. Costa Rica leads on nature.
A normal day costs about $75 in Egypt and $130 in Costa Rica.
Side by side
- 🇪🇬 Egypt🇨🇷 Costa Rica
- Jan, Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, DecBest monthsJan, Feb, Mar, Dec
- $75A normal day$130
- 11h 30m to CairoNonstop from New York5h 15m to San Jose
- Very goodBeaches and seaVery good
- Very goodCities and cultureNot the draw
- GoodFoodGood
- GoodNature and hikingExceptional
- ExceptionalValue for moneyNot the draw
- GoodEasy to get aroundGood
- Sleeper trains along the Nile and cheap domestic flightsGetting aroundA hire car with clearance, the distances are short but the roads are slow
- Upper Egypt from June to August, when Luxor and Aswan are unbearableWhen to avoidSeptember and October on the Caribbean side, the wettest weeks of the year
Pick by what you want
🇪🇬 Choose Egypt if
you want the oldest thing on this list, a river trip through it, and Red Sea diving, at prices nowhere in Europe matches.
🇨🇷 Choose Costa Rica if
you want wildlife above everything else, cloud forest and two oceans in one small country, and you accept it costs more than its neighbours.
Full Egypt guide →Full Costa Rica guide →
And what the world thinks
Dead even. The next vote breaks the tie.
Compare something else
Written and checked by hand. Nothing here about visas or entry rules: those change often and depend on your passport, so check an official source.