🇵🇪 Peru or 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Which one, honestly
Peru leads on food, cities and value for money. Costa Rica leads on the sea.
A normal day costs about $85 in Peru and $130 in Costa Rica.
Side by side
- 🇵🇪 Peru🇨🇷 Costa Rica
- May, Jun, Jul, Aug, SepBest monthsJan, Feb, Mar, Dec
- $85A normal day$130
- 7h 45m to LimaNonstop from New York5h 15m to San Jose
- Not the drawBeaches and seaVery good
- Very goodCities and cultureNot the draw
- ExceptionalFoodGood
- ExceptionalNature and hikingExceptional
- Very goodValue for moneyNot the draw
- GoodEasy to get aroundGood
- Long distance buses are good and cheap, flights save whole daysGetting aroundA hire car with clearance, the distances are short but the roads are slow
- February, when the rains peak and the Inca Trail closes for maintenanceWhen to avoidSeptember and October on the Caribbean side, the wettest weeks of the year
Pick by what you want
🇵🇪 Choose Peru if
you want the Andes, one of the best food scenes anywhere, and a ruin everyone knows, without paying European prices.
🇨🇷 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 Peru 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.