San José (SJO) to Malaga (AGP): 5,240 miles (8,432 km) great-circle, about 11h 00m nonstop by our estimate. Cheapest fare observed: $1150 round-trip on United Airlines, with 2 stops, departing May 7, 2026.
$1150 round-trip, United Airlines UA1099, departing 2026-05-07 at 13:25, returning 2026-05-18. The recorded itinerary left on a Thursday, returning on a Monday 11 nights later; the fare was observed 12 days before departure. "Book this flight" opens Kiwi.com with the same airline and dates.
At $1150, it ranked 25th of the 30 round-trip fares we recorded from SJO (median $412). That is 21.9 cents per great-circle mile (round-trip price over one-way distance), close to the SJO median of 21.6 cents across 29 round-trip routes.
Routes from SJO of similar length: Madrid (5,281 mi) at $926 and Barcelona (5,573 mi) at $1165.
United Airlines had the cheapest fare on 3 of 30 SJO routes. It is the 7th longest of the 30 routes we track from SJO.
Of 20 departure airports with a fare to Malaga, San José (SJO) ranked 20th at $1150. Lowest: $68 from Barcelona (BCN); highest: $1150 from San José (SJO); 8 nonstop. Cheapest-fare airlines (routes): Ryanair (8), Wizz Air (3), Air Europa (1), easyJet (1), Frontier (1) and Norwegian Air (1), plus 5 more.
That depends on your passport and trip, so check the official source for Spain: European Commission: Schengen visa policy. Connecting elsewhere? Check that country's transit rules too.
Travelpayouts fares (cheapest per route, observed April 25, 2026); OurAirports coordinates and elevations; IANA zones America/Costa_Rica, Europe/Madrid; flight time is our estimate.