Costa Rica vs Portugal

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

Resort pool with loungers and umbrellas flanked by white buildings, ocean and coastline visible beyond.

Costa Rica and Portugal, 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

Costa Rica compared with Portugal
Costa Rica	Measure	Portugal
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions (better)
6	Resorts in our catalog	16 (better)
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.4 (better)
$88–$285/night pp	Nightly rates	$47–$333/night pp (better)
1 of 6	Adults-only resorts	0 of 16
Low hurricane risk	Hurricane exposure	No hurricane season (better)
May–November ('green season'), with September–October seriously wet	Rainy season	November–March
December–April, bone-dry in Guanacaste	Sweet spot	June–September (the ocean stays refreshingly cool all year)
Spanish (English common in tourist areas)	Language	Portuguese (English widely spoken in the Algarve)
Costa Rican colón – USD widely accepted	Currency	Euro (EUR) – cards widely accepted
120V, Type A/B plugs (same as the US)	Power	230V, Type C/F plugs (US devices need an adapter)
On the right	Driving	On the right
Liberia – Daniel Oduber (LIR)	Main airport	Faro (FAO)
~3.5–5.5h from the US (nonstops to Liberia)	Flight time	~7–9h from the US East Coast (often one stop)

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

Portugal

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Costa Rica and Portugal
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
Portugal · high °F	61	62	65	68	72	79	84	84	80	74	67	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
Portugal · rain (in)	3.1	2.6	1.6	1.5	0.8	0.2	0.1	0.2	1.1	2.6	3.3	3.9

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