VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • 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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Tamarindo 85: Fort Lauderdale leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Tamarindo 38: Fort Lauderdale leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Tamarindo 5: Fort Lauderdale leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Tamarindo 45: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Tamarindo 28: Fort Lauderdale leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Tamarindo 55: Fort Lauderdale leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale and Tamarindo are level on 32.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Tamarindo 18: Fort Lauderdale leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Tamarindo 36: Tamarindo leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Tamarindo 10: Fort Lauderdale leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tamarindo
39match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 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
Fort LauderdaleTamarindo

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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleTamarindo
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m27 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleTamarindo
City population182,7607,132
People per km²1,82957
Museums within 10 km60
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale 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). 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.