VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Amsterdam 25, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Tamarindo 38: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Tamarindo 5: Amsterdam leads by 77 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Tamarindo 45: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Tamarindo 28: Amsterdam leads by 59 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Tamarindo 55: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Tamarindo 32: Amsterdam leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Tamarindo 18: Amsterdam leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Tamarindo 36: Tamarindo leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Tamarindo 10: Amsterdam leads by 68 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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
AmsterdamTamarindo

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

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. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamTamarindo
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m27 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamTamarindo
City population921,4687,132
People per km²4,20857
Museums within 10 km1010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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.