Do we really get a lot of sunshine in Costa Rica?

Is there a lot of sunshine in Costa Rica? When they read that Costa Rica has the best climate in the world, some think it’s all advertising techniques.

Is it for real? Is the climate in Costa Rica really so good? Or doesn’t have the number of sunshine hours so much to do with the fact that it’s the best climate?

I’ve been here way too long I guess. Or I’ve been sitting in the Costa Rican sun too much. I just realized that I got so used to have sunshine every day, I don’t even notice it anymore.

The constant rain, greyness, cold, the insane wind, and the relative absence of sun in the Netherlands is one of the reasons I moved here. A short video by Visit Holland shows how the Dutch go crazy when the sun shows his face for a couple of hours.

We, who live in Costa Rica, take the sunshine for granted.

It’s been many years since I moved to Costa Rica. But when I go on vacation to visit my mom in Holland, I only go during the summertime. And even then I’m cold most of the time. Or it’s way too hot. I guess I love the temperate climate of Escazu.

I don’t go on vacation to Holland particularly to enjoy the weather there. If I’d be interested in nice weather, I’d stay in Costa Rica. I enjoy the sunshine and the temperate climate in Escazu, but I know many who enjoy the climate at the beach more. Others love cooler weather and even more rain that you can find in the mountains.

Isn’t it amazing you can just pick a location with the weather you like best? Lots of sunshine or lots of rain, all your choice. Who is as lucky as I am to have all those choices? You guessed it: those who live in Costa Rica.

Sunshine Hours

While watching that Visit Holland video, I started getting curious about sunshine hours. I’ve never really looked at it. Google is always my biggest help when I want to learn something. Weather Atlas comes to my help, and I’m thankful for that.

There is a total of possible 4383 sunshine hours (12 a day).

Here are some sunshine hours comparisons that you can fin on Current Results:

San Jose, Costa Rica –   2,081 hours        Paris, France – 1,662 hours                              New York City – 2,535 hours

Alajuela, Costa Rica – 2,409 hours           Den Helder, Holland – 1,751 hours                Las Vegas – 3,825 hours

Puntarenas, Costa Rica – 2,446 hours     London, United Kingdom –  1,481 hours      Denver – 3,107 hours

I’m not a weather expert, but it seems to me that if you’re looking for sunshine, New York City is a much better option that Alajuela, Costa Rica. That is if you like sunshine to come with snow.

Do you really want 11 hours of sunshine a day as they have in Arizona? The Ticos, they’d extend the number of holidays to 365 and never go back to work.

Weather Experts

Some US channels make the weather forecast interesting by hiring beautiful people like Primer Impacto’s Jackie Guerrido and Rob Marciano at ABC News. In Costa Rica, we don’t need that, we have beautiful weather anyway. News channels in Costa Rica stopped giving weather forecasts years ago.

I’m not a weather expert, we sell and rent properties in Costa Rica. But possibly it is the combination of fantastic average temperatures year-round. Plus the fact that we don’t have any hurricanes or snow that obliges us to enjoy the weather in Costa Rica, every day!

Even when it rains…

Attracted to the great weather and plenty of sunshine hours in Costa Rica? Then contact us now.