Bahia vs Guanacaste

Turquoise pool with thatched-roof cabanas, loungers, and a daybed pavilion surrounded by tropical vegetation under cloudy sky.

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

Bahia and Guanacaste, 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

Bahia compared with Guanacaste
Bahia	Measure	Guanacaste
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
4	Resorts in our catalog	6 (better)
★ 4.7 (better)	Average guest rating	★ 4.4
$119–$233/night pp	Nightly rates	$88–$285/night pp (better)
0 of 4	Adults-only resorts	1 of 6
No hurricane season (better)	Hurricane exposure	Low hurricane risk
April–July	Rainy season	May–November ('green season'), seriously wet September–October
September–March (southern-hemisphere spring and summer)	Sweet spot	December–April, bone-dry
Salvador (SSA), resort zone ~1–1.5h north	Airport	Liberia (LIR), Papagayo resorts 30–45 min
Culture-rich beach trips; hurricane-free southern summers	Best for	Nature + beach in one trip; reliable winter sun
TAMAR turtle project; Salvador's Pelourinho; moqueca	Signature	Wildlife everywhere; volcano and cloud-forest day trips

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

Bahia

Guanacaste

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Bahia and Guanacaste
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Bahia · high °F	86	87	86	84	82	80	79	79	81	83	84	85
Guanacaste · high °F	91	92	93	93	91	88	88	88	87	86	87	89
Bahia · rain (in)	2.7	3.9	6.1	10.9	10.5	8.5	6.9	4.4	3.3	3.9	4.1	4.9
Guanacaste · 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 Bahia coast (Salvador) and Papagayo / Guanacaste: planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.