VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bergen 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 Bergen for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

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. Bergen 20, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Tamarindo 38: Bergen leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Tamarindo 5: Bergen leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Tamarindo 76: Bergen leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Tamarindo 28: Bergen leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Tamarindo 55: Bergen leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Tamarindo 32: Bergen leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Tamarindo 18: Bergen leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Tamarindo 36: Tamarindo leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Tamarindo 10: Bergen leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 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: Bergen and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Bergen
Best match
46match

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

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Tamarindo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
129 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BergenTamarindo

Where the figures come from

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. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenTamarindo
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiSpanish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation5 m27 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenTamarindo
City population291,1897,132
People per km²3,33957
Museums within 10 km310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Bergen 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.