Guanacaste vs Zanzibar

Planet Hollywood Costa Rica's modern entrance glows with purple neon signage at dusk under a dramatic cloudy sky.

Thatched-roof pavilion with blue curtains surrounded by palm trees, flowering plants, and a small pool at The Palms Zanzibar.

Guanacaste and Zanzibar, 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

Guanacaste compared with Zanzibar
Guanacaste	Measure	Zanzibar
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
6	Resorts in our catalog	15 (better)
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.6 (better)
$117–$952/night pp	Nightly rates	$93–$723/night pp (better)
1 of 6	Adults-only resorts	0 of 15
Low hurricane risk	Hurricane exposure	No hurricane season (better)
May–November ('green season'), seriously wet September–October	Rainy season	Long rains mid-March to May (April is the wettest month), short rains in November
December–April, bone-dry	Sweet spot	June to October and December to February
Liberia (LIR), Papagayo resorts 30–45 min	Airport	Abeid Amani Karume (ZNZ); listed transfers run 40 to 97 minutes

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

Zanzibar

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Guanacaste and Zanzibar
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
Zanzibar · high °F	89	90	90	87	84	84	83	83	84	86	88	89
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
Zanzibar · rain (in)	3.0	2.4	5.9	15.3	7.8	1.9	1.1	1.4	2.0	3.5	8.0	5.5

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