VacationSelector
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Maastricht 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 Maastricht for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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. Maastricht 8, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Maastricht 58, Tamarindo 38: Maastricht leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Maastricht 60, Tamarindo 5: Maastricht leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Maastricht 42, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Maastricht 58, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Maastricht 77, Tamarindo 28: Maastricht leads by 49 points.
Good for families. Maastricht and Tamarindo are level on 55.
Getting around. Maastricht 74, Tamarindo 32: Maastricht leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Maastricht 60, Tamarindo 18: Maastricht leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Maastricht 38, Tamarindo 36: Maastricht leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Maastricht 40, Tamarindo 10: Maastricht leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Maastricht 52, Tamarindo 45: Maastricht leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Maastricht and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Maastricht
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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.

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
MaastrichtTamarindo

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. Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMaastrichtTamarindo
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
Elevation49 m27 m
Main airportMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMaastrichtTamarindo
City population120,2277,132
People per km²2,00057
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Maastricht 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.