Costa Rica vs Crete

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

Outdoor dining area with white sail shade canopies over wicker chairs and tables, black support columns, and sea views beyond.

Costa Rica and Crete, 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.

Costa Rica guide · Crete guide · How we score

By the numbers

Costa Rica compared with Crete
Costa Rica	Measure	Crete
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions (better)
7	Resorts in our catalog	16 (better)
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.6 (better)
$88–$289/night pp	Nightly rates	$64–$2113/night pp (better)
1 of 7	Adults-only resorts	5 of 16
Low hurricane risk	Hurricane exposure	No hurricane season (better)
May–November ('green season'), with September–October seriously wet	Rainy season	November–February
December–April, bone-dry in Guanacaste	Sweet spot	June and September; July–August is hottest and busiest

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

Costa Rica

Crete

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Costa Rica and Crete
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Costa Rica · high °F	91	92	93	93	91	88	88	88	87	86	87	89
Crete · high °F	60	61	64	69	76	83	85	85	81	74	68	62
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
Crete · rain (in)	3.5	3.0	2.2	1.0	0.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.8	2.7	2.3	3.0

Approximate climate normals for Guanacaste / Papagayo and Crete (north coast): planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.