Antigua vs Costa Rica

Aerial view of Hammock Cove Antigua with pools, beach loungers, wooden pier, and turquoise water with moored floats.

Illuminated beachfront dining pavilion with white railings and thatched-roof bungalows reflected in the pool at dusk.

Antigua and Costa Rica, side by side: live travel advisories, our resort catalog's real guest data, and each destination's honest weather picture. Everything you need to break the tie.

By the numbers

Antigua compared with Costa Rica
Antigua	Measure	Costa Rica
Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions (better)	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
9 (better)	Resorts in our catalog	6
★ 4.5 (better)	Average guest rating	★ 4.4
$187–$2456/night pp	Nightly rates	$88–$285/night pp (better)
7 of 9	Adults-only resorts	1 of 6
In the hurricane belt	Hurricane exposure	Low hurricane risk (better)
September–November	Rainy season	May–November ('green season'), with September–October seriously wet
December–April	Sweet spot	December–April, bone-dry in Guanacaste
English (official)	Language	Spanish (English common in tourist areas)
East Caribbean dollar – USD widely accepted	Currency	Costa Rican colón – USD widely accepted
230V (110V at some hotels), Type A/B plugs	Power	120V, Type A/B plugs (same as the US)
On the left	Driving	On the right
V.C. Bird International, St. John's (ANU)	Main airport	Liberia – Daniel Oduber (LIR)
~4–4.5h from the US East Coast	Flight time	~3.5–5.5h from the US (nonstops to Liberia)

Advisory levels sync from travel.state.gov; catalog figures reflect the resorts we've researched, not every hotel in the country. A marked row is one we are willing to call; rows without a mark are a matter of taste, or we have no comparable figure for both sides.

On the map

Antigua

Costa Rica

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Antigua and Costa Rica
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Antigua · high °F	82	82	83	84	86	87	87	88	88	87	85	83
Costa Rica · high °F	91	92	93	93	91	88	88	88	87	86	87	89
Antigua · rain (in)	2.6	1.7	1.7	2.4	3.6	2.5	3.0	3.9	4.9	5.5	5.5	3.5
Costa Rica · rain (in)	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.7	7.7	9.0	5.9	7.9	13.0	12.2	4.3	0.5

Approximate climate normals for Island-wide and Guanacaste / Papagayo: planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.