VacationSelector
The white temple of Wat Kaew Korawaram in Krabi Town, Krabi
KrabiThe white temple of Wat Kaew Korawaram in Krabi Town
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Krabi by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Krabi 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 Krabi for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • nightlife
  • getting around

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. Krabi 87, Tamarindo 85: Krabi leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Krabi 50, Tamarindo 38: Krabi leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Krabi 20, Tamarindo 5: Krabi leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Krabi 33, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krabi 85, Tamarindo 76: Krabi leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Krabi 40, Tamarindo 28: Krabi leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Krabi and Tamarindo are level on 55.
Getting around. Krabi 30, Tamarindo 32: Tamarindo leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Krabi 20, Tamarindo 18: Krabi leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Krabi 78, Tamarindo 36: Krabi leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krabi 12, Tamarindo 10: Krabi leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krabi 72, Tamarindo 45: Krabi leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Krabi and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Krabi
Best match
49match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Krabi in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
212 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 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
KrabiTamarindo

Where the figures come from

Krabi's temperatures are measured 67 km from the centre, at Phuket Airport.

Krabi 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. Krabi: 1991-2020 normals, Phuket Airport (66.6 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrabiTamarindo
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation16 m27 m
Main airportKrabi International Airport (KBV)9 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureKrabiTamarindo
City population30,4997,132
People per km²-57
Museums within 10 km00
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 Krabi 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.