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Cheap Flights from San Jose to Costa Rica

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 days
San José
San José1 stop$444
Liberia
Liberia2 stops$551
San José
San José1 stop$444
Liberia
Liberia2 stops$551
Booking Insights

Price, demand and travel trends for San Jose to Costa Rica flights

Use KAYAK data on prices, travel dates, airlines and seasonal trends to compare options and book flights with more confidence.

Are flights from San Jose to Costa Rica cheaper or more expensive than last year?

Fares from San Jose to Costa Rica are running about the same as they were around this time last year, averaging $595 round-trip.

What are the cheapest fares from San Jose to Costa Rica right now?

The cheapest fares from San Jose to Costa Rica on KAYAK in the last week were to San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) from $444 round-trip, and to Liberia (LIR) from $551 round-trip.

What’s the cheapest month to fly from San Jose to Costa Rica?

May is the cheapest time of year to fly, with average fares of $453. Prices are highest in December, when average flight costs increase to around $1,310.

Which airport in Costa Rica is the cheapest to fly to from San Jose?

Based on KAYAK data from the past 12 months, the cheapest airports to fly into Costa Rica are:

• San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) from $608
• Liberia (LIR) from $654

What’s the cheapest day to fly from San Jose to Costa Rica?

Tuesday tends to be the cheapest day to fly from San Jose to Costa Rica, while Saturday is the most expensive. Fares run about 26% higher that day, based on the past 12 months of KAYAK data.

What's the cheapest time of day to fly from San Jose to Costa Rica?

Data from the past 12 months shows it's cheapest to fly to Costa Rica during the morning with average prices of $602. The evening is the most expensive time to fly, with average prices of $964.

Key details for San Jose to Costa Rica flights

Low season

September

Cheapest flight

$258
Beat the crowds with an average 61% drop in travelers.
The most popular month to fly with an average 66% increase in travelers.
One-way flight from San Jose to San José

Your San Jose to Costa Rica flight questions, answered

Find helpful answers about this route, including flight times, airports, airlines and booking tips.

  • Is now a good time to book a flight from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    Yes. Fares from San Jose to Costa Rica are low right now. As a rule of thumb, a round-trip under $532 (cheaper than most fares this year) is a good deal, so if you spot one at or below that, it's a good time to book.

  • How much should I budget for a flight from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    Over the past 12 months, round-trip fares from San Jose to Costa Rica have ranged from $532 to $831.

  • What airlines fly nonstop from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    Based on the flight schedule for the next 3 months, no airline regularly operates nonstop flights from San Jose to Costa Rica. One-stop options include:

    • Delta
    • United Airlines
    • American Airlines

  • Which cabin classes are available on flights from San Jose to Costa Rica?

    On flights from San Jose to Costa Rica you can only book Economy Class.

  • What are some popular landmarks in Costa Rica?

    KAYAK travelers' favorite landmarks in Costa Rica include:

    • Parque Metropolitano La Sabana
    • Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica
    • Museo de Oro
    • Morazan Park

  • What travel documentation should I know about before I board my flight to Costa Rica?

    Any traveler making a trip to Costa Rica for a great vacation does not need to get a visa so long as you don't plan on staying for more than 90 days, but you will need to show the immigration authorities your return plane ticket. You will also need a valid passport when flying to Costa Rica, and your passport needs to be valid the entire time you are in Costa Rica.

  • I am planning on renting a car in Costa Rica. What are the child car seat laws I should know about when driving here?

    Every child traveling in a car in Costa Rica that is up to 12 months old needs to ride in a car seat that faces to the rear. If they are between 12 months and four years old, the car seat needs to face forward. After that, children up to 12 years old need to travel in a booster seat or a booster cushion.

  • Is there any way for me to get freshened up at the San José Juan Santamaria International Airport after a long flight?

    This airport offers showers inside of the terminal building that are free of charge to travelers and make a great way to get freshened up after a long flight.

  • Are there any hotels that have a location right at the San José Juan Santamaria International Airport?

    There are several hotels that have a location right at the entrance of the airport property, and some of them include the Hyatt Place San Jose Airport and the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott San Jose Airport.

Your guide to booking San Jose to Costa Rica flights

Get tips on when to book, when to fly and what to know before your trip.
  • If your travel dates are flexible, book your trip for May when flights are typically cheapest and avoid December when prices are at their highest.
  • Flying on Tuesday is usually the cheapest. Flights on Saturday cost about 26% more on average, so being flexible with your travel dates could help you save.
  • If you're looking to save, San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) is the cheapest airport to fly into from San Jose. If you have onward travel, don't forget to factor in the cost of your journey by train, bus or domestic flight.
  • Start your trip in San José, which is the most popular destination in Costa Rica. From there, it's easy to continue on to other popular destinations such as La Fortuna, Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio.
  • When people want to fly from San Jose to Costa Rica, they often fly to the San José Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO). Choosing this route, you will find one-stop flight offerings aboard United Airlines and Delta Airlines from San Jose Airport (SJC).
  • One of the most convenient ways to get to the San Jose Airport from downtown San Jose without having to drive your own car is to travel aboard the bus and train lines operated by Santa Clara VTA, which offers service from downtown to the airport in around 12 minutes.
  • If you're looking for a comfortable place to wait for your flight to Costa Rica at the San Jose Airport, consider one of The Club SJC locations at the airport that not only offers plenty of comfortable seating but also quite a few food and beverage options as well as some entertainment options.
  • For travelers planning on driving their to the San Jose Airport and looking for parking options, the airport offers quite a few different choices, with several lots right at the airport terminal building. A more cost-effective solution is to choose Economy Lot One that offers a much lower rate on a per day basis and has a shuttle service to the airport terminal buildings.
  • For nursing mothers traveling from the San Jose Airport, you'll be happy to know that this airport offers five different nursing room locations at gates 8, 18, 21, 24, and 26. Each of these rooms has a very comfortable chair as well as a changing station, power outlets, and a sink.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from San Jose to Costa Rica

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Jose to Costa Rica? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
7.9
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 13064 reviews
8.1Boarding
8.5Crew
7.8Comfort
7.0Food
7.0Entertainment
Airline reviews

The flight attendant for first class was excellent. Very attentive to the needs of the passengers The time scheduled for the connection flight on to Kona was too short and we missed that flight. But another flight was only an hour later. But it should have been scheduled that was in the first place.

10.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Sep 2026
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

The flight attendant for first class was excellent. Very attentive to the needs of the passengers The time scheduled for the connection flight on to Kona was too short and we missed that flight. But another flight was only an hour later. But it should have been scheduled that was in the first place.

The problem was going through San Diego, a trip that's become a new development.

No complimentary snacks or food. Had to buy drinks and food.

in-flight wifi was not working well. also the cabin temperature was a bit hot.

I wasn’t able to check in prior to arriving at the airport, I was told by the agent I may not get a seat on the plane as others were waiting for seats, I sat there for 2 hours before being assigned a seat, very stressful. The plane was delayed. Overall not a great travel experience for a 44 minute flight.

Larger seats and more room would elevate the experience. Otherwise, it was good!

Check in went pretty well and you didn't lose my bag. After I got a drink from the drink cart they charged me for it, and at the crazy overpriced airport rates. Never had that happen before, is that an american thing? what madness.

I was delayed several times. Missed a very important event. The airline only provided a $12 voucher after being delayed 3 times.

One the nicest and great air crews I’ve experienced and I’ve flown a lot

Staff at Gate desk were helpful. My connecting flight from the first part of my trip Kona to Seattle was late. I had to run through SeaTac Seattle to catch my flight to San Jose. They made an exception to let me board. On my return trip San Jose to San Diego and San Diego to Honolulu the same thing happened. One flight arrived late and I had to run through the terminal to catch my connection. There are no Gluten-free & Vegan options meals and snacks to purchase.

Flight boarded 2.5 hours late (my second southwest flight of the day with late departure), the gate agent was grumpy and unhelpful. Said she was "tired so we aren't going to follow normal boarding order". No complaints about the actual flight crew.

I liked how it boarded fast. I do not like how the seats are just too narrow, and I’m not a big person.

Despite paying for an ‘upgraded’ seat in row 1, I had to put my luggage in the middle of the plane. Snacks were bleh and seat was small and uncomfortable and I am not large. Attendants were fine but not super helpful. Plane just seemed outdated.

Delayed flight, lack of information, boarding process is a mess as is the carryon luggage causing issues when leaving the plane….just a poor experience.

The problem with the seat assignments is that there were a lot of rows in the front that were empty but my row at the back was full. Just not so pleasant.

Good but I prefer choose your own seat. With the new assigned seats they should board from the back I see no advantage to this new boarding. Just like every other airline

I recently flew Southwest from San Jose to Honolulu. I was very impressed with the flight crew, especially the flight attendant in charge of the front of the plane. She came through the aisle at least five times for drinks and water, and two times for snacks. I have not seen such service since I flew first class. Also, for the first time, they gave us the correct baggage claim number, and the luggage came out quickly. I can't wait for Southwest to have assigned seating! I absolutely hate the Cattle Call boarding procedure and the mad dash to get seats and overhead bins. However, the boarding was efficient.

Forget beverage, they didn't even have water for half the passangers?

Flight was not full! Had a whole row to myself.

Wifi didn’t work, no service, seats are hard as rocks

Had to deplane 2 x due to problems with plane. Delayed over 6 hours ans was given a $12 food credit which barely oaud for anything and limited to wear incoukd redeem.

more room in seats, larger snacks, more comms with delays

Gate agent and flight attendants were efficient, but more stern than warm.

The only issue is that the plane was HOT. This was not the case on my first flight so not sure why, but thankfully I had a portable fan with me. Everything else was great!

Seemingly unnecessary delays were compounded by a lack of communication from the flight crew which turned a four hour delay into an overly stressful experience.

I think the crew makes way too many announcements that are: 1) hard to hear in some cases and 2) repetitive. This detracts from entertainment and concentration if working or reading.

I was in first class and literally the men behind me were so aggressively loud I moved myself to economy. This has become so common on Delta - people using audio without headphones, and men on 12am / late night flights drinking and yelling to talk to each other which prevents anyone around them from resting. Pretty crazy to have to move from first to economy (poorer service, less comfort...). Wild wild. Looking into other airlines.

Flew first class so everything was great. But maybe because the flights were red eye, no meals were served, just chips. I flew Alaska Air 1st class at 9PM (2 hour flight) and they served beef short rib sliders!

Plane was turned around due to fog half way into the flight, Delta did not properly direct passengers to stay on same flight and instead failed to properly rebook on Alaska

Delta planes have the WORST seat comfort of any plane in history. It's the opposite of ergonomic, in every sense. They also recline minimally, are covered in a vinyl and have no feet rests. Then the disembarking process is chaotic and time consuming (because of the way they load the plane and deal with luggage). Overall, somewhat frustrating but we arrived safely :)

Delayed - leaving, delayed getting to the gate at destination. What should have been a very easy flight and experience was not.

Better management of the boarding process. Is there any way you could forward all the window seats first? That's the Way Reno Air used to do it, and they had the fastest boarding in the industry!

Wifi is very frustrating - could not connect and therefore unable to work on the trip

Entertainment was great. Seats were good. They did not have my pre-ordered hot food product available but did comp me something cold in place of the item.

Food was good. Clean aircraft. But why do the airlines make the seats so narrow?! Your executives should have ride in a seat so restrictive for 11 hours and see how miserable it is! When.we got to MUC they changed my boarding gate 3 times for my next flight!!!!

Santa Barbara is a super small and easy airport. Breezed through rental car return, breezed through Security, ordered a coffee and muffin and to my gate in less than 30 minutes. Maybe because it was a small airport we got the oldest plane. Hardly any overhead space and absolutely zero internet. Its NFL Sunday man! That hurt.

We were delay because so many bags needed to be gate checked and it was disappointing not to have outlets in the seats for such a long flight.

My experience on this United Airlines flight was highly uncomfortable, primarily due to two issues: Cabin Temperature: The temperature on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was unacceptably high, feeling consistently around 80 degrees throughout the flight. This made sleeping impossible and significantly detracted from the experience. Seating Arrangement: Being stuck in a middle seat for a six-and-a-half-hour overnight flight compounded the discomfort. Moving forward, I will always purchase a seat assignment to avoid this situation.

I understand stuff happens, but plane failures are likely due to lack of maintenance. Additionally, air conditioning wasn't working, no snack/drink service, no WiFi. Fortunately, the crew was communicative and light-hearted. United grabbed another plane and we were able to get to our destination.

A good, solid, no frills experience. Departed and arrived on time, staff were pleasant and attentive. Loved the Bluetooth connectivity on the SJC to IAH leg. Being able to watch movies and listen to them with my noise cancelling headphones was lovely. Missed that on the IAH to LHR leg (so I put the wired buds on and my over ear Quiet Comforts over those).

Multiple delays and made us miss the connecting flight and lost our bags

Business class flight attendant was very good. But our flight was delayed two hours for a “mechanical” bathroom issue that literally took 5 minutes to fix. Our plane landed early from its previous flight but still waited for a mechanic to show up to fix an obvious minor issue for almost three hours. This caused us to miss our connecting flight. They put us up in a Days Inn that was 17 miles away from the airport that took a half hour of driving just to get to and this was at 11pm at night. Then when we finally got back on a plane after a full day delay they left our luggage back in the airport. This was an international flight, so no luggage or belongings after flying 8 hours to a different country. We will NEVER fly American Airlines again.

I was able to enlist on standby for an earlier flight, and eventually made it (last row). However, the experience was poor and felt unfair. On the standby list, I was ranked #2 (#1 had been cleared a seat). The person ranked as #3, who was also in the queue alongside me was given a seat much earlier - with group 4 boarding (a seat within the first 2 rows after business class). When inquired about why I was skipped-over on the priority list, the gate agent first paused (likely cuz she couldn't explain) - and then gave me the standard expectation that if a space opens up, she'll give me the seat. Despite my priority ranking being higher, I was unduly held-back, and could have missed the plane - unfairly giving advantage to someone else. Luckily one seat opened up; but given the unfair assignment of standby seat by gate-agent, this was a subpar boarding experience.

The airline was small and the seats were not comfortable to sit in for that length of time.

I was truly shocked at how poor this flight went. The crew was not friendly during the checking process. The asked for people to gate check and were rude about it. They didn't handle my luggage with care. When I got to my seat I noticed a large section of the ceiling vent area was, no joke, TAPED TOGETHER WITH CLEAR PACKING TAPE! To add insult to injury, the back rest button was disabled on my seat and all the seats I could see. The wifi, never connected for me, despite troubleshooting it for a while. I did everything from restarting my wifi/phone to forgetting the network and restarting the app. But that didn't stop the mandatory 2 ads from playing every single time. Even the bags took over 45 mins to arrive at the carousel. Everything about this flight was a flop and I am beginning to notice that some of these events are becoming a trend. Perhaps it's time I switch loyalty programs.

Flight delayed 6 hours. Would mean I would miss My connections to Glasgow and my reason for going back. AA staff were completely useless in figuring out how to re ok me. My wife 200 miles away was on kayak offering suggestions. Also NO alerts from AA by phone or text about this delay. Just a $12 voucher for compensation. I ended up on BA

Little communication with passengers after sitting over 1 hour for a maintenance issue Then we had to deplane- no crew communication Poor gate information after deplaned WiFi would not connect AT ALL

Rough flight No beverage service due to turbulence Bottom Seat cushion was non existent

They are rarely on time! Very hard to plan your travels when flights or connections keep getting delayed.

Apart from the delay due to unforeseen circumstances. The leg from sjc to dfw was fine. It was the leg from dfw to orf that we encountered issues mainly due to the flight attendant crew not being friendly. We had two small children and we needed some assistance to warm up milk so the baby would sleep. The crew just didn’t get it and made things very difficult. One made a remark that the baby’s dirty diaper smell was a “gift” to the plane in a rude way. Normally I’d brush that off as a funny comment if the rest of the trip the attendants were helpful or understanding of the difficulty we faced. But that wasn’t the case. We were met with rudeness on the second leg. Whereas on the first leg the crew were so nice and helpful.

More options for your flight from San Jose to Costa Rica

Complete your trip to Costa Rica with a hotel stay or car rental