Guanacaste vs Jamaica

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

Two-story beachfront resort building with white columns and balconies, lounge chairs and umbrellas on sandy beach, palm trees, and pool visible.

Guanacaste and Jamaica, 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.

Guanacaste guide · Jamaica guide · How we score

By the numbers

Guanacaste compared with Jamaica
Guanacaste	Measure	Jamaica
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
7	Resorts in our catalog	23 (better)
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.5 (better)
$88–$289/night pp (better)	Nightly rates	$117–$430/night pp
1 of 7	Adults-only resorts	14 of 23
Low hurricane risk (better)	Hurricane exposure	In the hurricane belt
May–November ('green season'), seriously wet September–October	Rainy season	May–June and September–November, mostly short afternoon bursts
December–April, bone-dry	Sweet spot	December–April

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

Guanacaste

Jamaica

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Guanacaste and Jamaica
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Guanacaste · high °F	91	92	93	93	91	88	88	88	87	86	87	89
Jamaica · high °F	82	82	83	84	86	88	88	88	88	87	85	83
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
Jamaica · rain (in)	0.9	0.6	0.6	1.1	4.0	3.5	2.4	3.5	5.1	7.1	3.0	1.5

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