Great1 stop · 12.5h
SAO to JNBSouth Africa
Johannesburg
$593
usually $885
−33%
Most monthly lows $771–$885. Cheaper than every other month on record (3).
Flights · SAO → SJO
São Paulo to San José
Best fare, round trip
$494
−7%
below its usual $530
you keep $36
Found
- Depart
- Mon 23 Nov
- Return
- Thu 21 Jan
- Stay
- 59 nights
- Flight
- 1 stop · 8.5h
- Airline
Avianca
Most of this route’s monthly lows fall between $494 and $530. The drop beats 12% of measured fares on the board, over 4 observed months.
Cached fare — the booking search re-prices live before you pay.
Costa RicaSan JoséNobody comes for the capital — they come for two coasts, volcanoes and cloud forest, all within four hours.Best windowDec–AprAirportsJuan Santamaría (SJO)Every route into San JoséFare seasonality
When this route gets cheap.
Fares bottom out in November around $494 and peak in December near $636, 29% dearer, across the 4 months we track. The cheapest itinerary we are tracking makes one stop and takes about 8.5 hours outbound, on a 59-night trip — ticketed under Avianca, which on a connecting fare need not operate every leg. At $494 for 5,517 km each way, that works out to about $45 per 1,000 km flown. That is about the $43 per 1,000 km typical of medium-haul fares here. Of the 3 departure cities we track at a similar distance from San José, this is the cheapest right now — 16% under the next one, Los Angeles. That puts it in the cheaper half of the 9 routes of similar length we watch out of São Paulo, where the middle fare is $501. The best time to be in San José: Dec–Apr.
The 5 days we hold a cached fare for
Press a date to compare its fares
The median cached fare across this calendar is 14% higher than when tracking began on 8 Aug — $464 then versus $529 now, across 20 recorded snapshots. This is a calendar-level trend, so an individual deal above can be lower. The lowest single day we have seen here is $408, on 31 Oct.
These are the only days we have a cached price for on this route so far — not the only days it flies. The search above covers any date.
Cached fares · checked 17 Oct 2026
Cheapest in Nov, around $494
7% below the $530 typical fare
$494Nov, the cheapest month. Compare November fares.$636Dec, above the usual price. Compare December fares.$529Jan ’27, around the usual price. Compare January fares.$494Feb, below the usual price. Compare February fares.
CheapestBelow usualUsualAbove usualPress a month to compare its fares
Cheapest round-trip fare found each month, São Paulo to San José, from cached prices.
Route facts
- Airports
- Guarulhos (GRU) · Congonhas (CGH) · Viracopos (VCP) ↔ Juan Santamaría (SJO)
- Flight time
- ≈8.5 hours outbound
- Distance
- ≈5,517 km each way
- Typical price
- $530 round-trip (seasonal median)
- Airlines on the board
- Avianca
- Itineraries
- Connections on current fares
- Best months to visit
- Dec–Apr
Good to know
SAO → SJO, answered.
Is $494 a good price for São Paulo to San José?
Only slightly. The seasonal median is around $530 round-trip and this fare is 7% under it. We do not call a drop notable until 20%, so this is an ordinary price for the route rather than a reason to hurry.
What is the cheapest month to fly from São Paulo to San José?
Across 4 months of cached-fare history, Nov comes out cheapest on this route. The best months to actually be in San José are Dec–Apr — when those overlap, that's your window.
How far in advance should I book SAO → San José?
We do not publish a number for this, because we cannot measure it yet. Answering it honestly means watching the same departure date on this route over many weeks as it approaches, and that archive is still filling up — so any "book N days ahead" figure here would be borrowed from somewhere else rather than measured. What we can measure is which month is cheap: across 4 months of cached fares, Nov comes out lowest on this route. Our guide Why flight prices change covers what does move a fare.
Are there nonstop flights from São Paulo to San José?
The current cheapest fares involve a connection, ticketed under Avianca. We hold no nonstop fare on this route right now, which does not mean none flies — search your exact dates to see what does.
Are these prices guaranteed?
No — these are cached fares found on real searches (this one on 17 October). Airlines reprice constantly, so the booking search re-checks the live price before you pay. Fresher finds are far more likely to still be available.
Next step
Sleeping in San José?
Lock the flight first — then compare stays for 23 Nov – 21 Jan '27 · 59 nights.
Browse hotelsMissed it?
Cached fares expire. This route has a feed of its own — follow it and the next SAO → SJO drop reaches you as soon as we find it.
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