Brazil vs Costa Rica

Costao do Santinho Resort sits on a hillside overlooking the ocean, with a large blue pool, loungers, and multi-story beige buildings surrounded by lush green vegetation.

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

Brazil 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

Brazil compared with Costa Rica
Brazil	Measure	Costa Rica
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
8 (better)	Resorts in our catalog	6
★ 4.7 (better)	Average guest rating	★ 4.4
$119–$405/night pp	Nightly rates	$88–$285/night pp (better)
0 of 8	Adults-only resorts	1 of 6
No hurricane season (better)	Hurricane exposure	Low hurricane risk
April–July on the northeast coast	Rainy season	May–November ('green season'), with September–October seriously wet
September–March (southern-hemisphere spring and summer)	Sweet spot	December–April, bone-dry in Guanacaste
Portuguese (English limited outside tourist areas)	Language	Spanish (English common in tourist areas)
Brazilian real (BRL) – cards widely used	Currency	Costa Rican colón – USD widely accepted
127V/220V, Type N plugs (adapter needed)	Power	120V, Type A/B plugs (same as the US)
On the right	Driving	On the right
Salvador (SSA)	Main airport	Liberia – Daniel Oduber (LIR)
~7–9h from the US East Coast (often via connection)	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

Brazil

Costa Rica

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Brazil and Costa Rica
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Brazil · high °F	86	87	86	84	82	80	79	79	81	83	84	85
Costa Rica · high °F	91	92	93	93	91	88	88	88	87	86	87	89
Brazil · 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
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 Northeast coast (Bahia) and Guanacaste / Papagayo: planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.