Guanacaste vs Negril

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

Swim-up bar with bartender serving drinks in resort pool surrounded by white cabanas, palm trees, and high-rise buildings under clear sky.

Guanacaste and Negril, 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 · Negril guide · How we score

By the numbers

Guanacaste compared with Negril
Guanacaste	Measure	Negril
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
7 (better)	Resorts in our catalog	6
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.5 (better)
$88–$289/night pp (better)	Nightly rates	$127–$258/night pp
1 of 7	Adults-only resorts	3 of 6
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
December–April, bone-dry	Sweet spot	December–April, with a sunset every night of the year
Liberia (LIR), Papagayo resorts 30–45 min	Airport	Sangster (MBJ), ~75–90 min transfer
Nature + beach in one trip; reliable winter sun	Best for	Beach purists, couples, long unhurried stays
Wildlife everywhere; volcano and cloud-forest day trips	Signature	Sunsets at Rick's Café; calm swimmable water

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

Negril

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Guanacaste and Negril
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
Negril · high °F	83	83	84	85	87	89	89	89	88	87	86	84
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
Negril · rain (in)	0.8	0.6	0.7	1.3	4.2	3.8	2.6	3.8	5.5	7.0	3.2	1.4

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