$173 Find Cheap Flights from San Jose to Costa Rica - Compare and Save

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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
Sort by: Cheapest
San José
8h 25m2 stops
from $453per person
Liberia
8h 32m2 stops
from $548per person
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 $453 round-trip, and to Liberia (LIR) from $548 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 $404. Prices are highest in December, when average flight costs increase to around $1,309.

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:

• Liberia (LIR) (avg. price $660)
• San José Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) (avg. price $673)

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 33% 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 $642. The evening is the most expensive time to fly, with average prices of $1,189.

Key details for San Jose to Costa Rica flights

Low season

September

Cheapest flight

$173
Beat the crowds with an average 62% drop in travelers.
The most popular month to fly with an average 76% 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 $557 (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 $557 to $976.

  • 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
    • American Airlines
    • United 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 33% more on average, so being flexible with your travel dates could help you save.
  • If you're looking to save, Liberia (LIR) 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.
8.0
SouthwestOverall score based on 4222 reviews
8.0Comfort
8.1Boarding
8.6Crew
7.5Entertainment
7.0Food
Airline reviews

Terrible, decided to delay our flight since another flight require a flight captain

2.0 MediocreChih Hsuan, Nov 2026
Read more Southwest reviews

Terrible, decided to delay our flight since another flight require a flight captain

They delayed my flight all day but didn't try to reschedule me until all other options were gone. Ended up on a red eye. Not happy. Lesson learned, don't book the last flight from SJC to RDU.

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

being late for poor reasons, bad chairs, being regulated to a terrible gate in LAX

Great overall experience and use of the Delta One lounge was amazing!

I used by Skymiles to upgrade to First so that I could comfortably work using my laptop. But WiFi was intermittent and unavailable for long periods. I feel like I wasted 70,000 miles :(

Chairs don’t recline and the ones that do recline, barely do recline. It was most uncomfortable flight i ever been on.

Everything was pretty good. I would like to have more drinks (water) during four hours of the flight.

Rude staff from baggage check to gate crew. Poor instructions. Inconsistent application of baggage rules.

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 :)

Check in went smoothly. Flight attendant who was assigned my area barely paid any attention to me! She acted as though she was extremely busy and flustered. Maybe she was new?! I told her to change the language on my screen, she said she’d come back to help me but never did so I was able to solve the problem on my own. She came back and said she’d made adjustments on her end. Highly doubt it because I found the setting to change the language! Also, I noticed everyone was eating before we landed so I pushed my help button and she never came so I got up to find her to ask her if I can have breakfast. She said they are not serving breakfast but I can have a sandwich. Yes, that was her response as I saw everyone eating breakfast!!!

Flight delay in lax which delayed our connecting flight to Copenhagen. Was placed on standby the following day and got delayed again at Scandinavian air. Bad bad counter service at ar Canada in Toronto by the name of Camilla who said that she was doing us a courtesy for even finding a earlier flight for us after we the customer are the ones being inconvenient by the cancellation of our flight. Btw, we are going on a tour. Air Canada is the worse

New Max 10, first class seats have been shrunk. End of a 20 hour journey, it was United not Lufthansa, just glad to get home

Seats are uncomfortable and left me in pain in my tailbone area. I got about one hour of sleep.

Delay of two hours due to some mechanical issue. Staff was wonderful and the pilot did let us know what was going on.

One of my checked luggage was damaged. Cracked on the top by the handle.

Not so good. Crew was not as attentive as they should have been especially if flying business class. Only offered dinner 2 hours after takeoff. My flight attendant seemed overwhelmed. Pushed my help button but no one came. I explained everything on my previous review.

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).

Free wifi was almost impossible to get, kept dropping the connection

Overall great experience, though my screen for entertainment was not working and I could see that others were.

The boarding agent and checked bag agent were both rude. It only takes a second to be kind. However, the flight crew was amazing. I got a turkey sandwich and it wasn't bad---not great but not bad. The internet was my biggest problem. This was a work trip and I REALLY needed the internet to meet a deadline but it didn't work for 80% of the trip. Very disappointing.

They lost my luggage and have ruined first day of my vacation. Still don’t have it. I have nothing. I also paid for a seat I did not get. They changed both our seats with no notice. Will never fly this airline again.

Flight was delayed 3 hours. No food on plane besides snacks

I have flown Jet Blue many times between JFK and SFO. I appreciate how clean the planes are, the ability to select my onboard entertainment and the flight crews have always been amazing! Unfortunately, my trip from SFO to JFK on August 23 was unusual. I arrived early at SFO for the 12:00 noon scheduled boarding. The flight was supposed to take off at 12:45pm but after sitting for a while, the plane had to return to the gate to have a generator inspected. After deplaning and then reboarding, we eventually took off around 3:30 pm. It was explained to the passengers that because the plane was using a backup generator, additional fuel was needed and the flight would take longer than originally scheduled. We were originally supposed to arrive at JFK at 9:32 pm but instead, arrived at midnight. Unfortunately, I was exhausted for the funeral I attended the next morning. As a passenger, I have always expected that the plane will be in good mechanical order and that all parts will function as expected. I'm not entirely certain that if I fly Jet Blue in the future, that I will have the same level of confidence that I had become accustomed to. Thanks for the opportunity to provide this feedback. Kathy Nigro

My screen didn’t work, my seat didn’t recline, the flight attendant was rude and completely dismissive, the airplane was freezing, the seats are way old, slanted and uncomfortable. I payed for a full ticket and got a horrific experience, with a flight attendant who dismissed me even though I was calm respectful and polite.

JetBlue cancelled the flight. We had to rebook on another airline.

The flight was on time the crew was courteous that makes for a good flight.

The seats were roomier than other airplanes I’ve been on.

Flight was comfortable- just had to endure a 1 hr delay because of some maintenance issue. Happy that American Airlines does these final checks but just wish they would conduct this maintenance before the flights.

All good. Easy check in and boarding. Lovely flight crew

The crew was great! The issue for me is the aircraft. The Airbus A32x is just not comfortable enough and the entertainment delivery via personal devices is problematic.

The crew was dis respectful even in business class. I will not recommend AA to anyone and will also fly only when there is no choice

Overall, it was a good experience, although the boarding process was somewhat disorganized, with no clear signage or designated areas indicating where passengers in different boarding groups should line up. Additionally, the seats felt quite outdated and could benefit from modernization. While the cabin crew provided good service, the experience lacked the personalized attention I would have expected.

This flight left LAX on time and arrived early in HNL. The flight crew was excellent, no issues with service or attentiveness. My issue is with the A321neo ... First class should be renamed business class as the seats are not that comfortable. And, having to use my phone as the entertainment device is just not acceptable ... I'm not going to carry a tablet so I can watch a movie. The music choices are limited, at least IMO.

The delay was not handled well and the offers to move flights and get travel credit was also not ideal.

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