VacationSelector
Amalfi and its harbour below the cliff, Amalfi
AmalfiAmalfi and its harbour below the cliff
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Amalfi by Oleksandra Zelena, Pexels License; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Amalfi or Tamarindo?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Amalfi for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Amalfi’s own page.

Choose Tamarindo for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tamarindo’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Amalfi 64, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Amalfi 48, Tamarindo 38: Amalfi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Amalfi 36, Tamarindo 5: Amalfi leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Amalfi 12, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amalfi 82, Tamarindo 76: Amalfi leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Amalfi 88, Tamarindo 28: Amalfi leads by 60 points.
Good for families. Amalfi 28, Tamarindo 55: Tamarindo leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Amalfi 48, Tamarindo 32: Amalfi leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Amalfi 34, Tamarindo 18: Amalfi leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Amalfi 18, Tamarindo 36: Tamarindo leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amalfi 22, Tamarindo 10: Amalfi leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amalfi 32, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amalfi and Tamarindo.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Amalfi
Best match
43match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Amalfi in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
28 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Tamarindo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
129 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AmalfiTamarindo

Where the figures come from

Amalfi's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Amalfi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Tamarindo's temperatures are measured 54 km from the centre, at Liberia.

Tamarindo has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amalfi: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (64.7 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmalfiTamarindo
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m27 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)38 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmalfiTamarindo
City population4,7297,132
People per km²83057
Museums within 10 km80
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amalfi or Tamarindo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.