VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Marrakech 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 Marrakech for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • beaches
  • families
  • 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. Marrakech 7, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Tamarindo 38: Marrakech leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Tamarindo 5: Marrakech leads by 71 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Marrakech and Tamarindo are level on 28.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Tamarindo 55: Tamarindo leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Tamarindo 32: Marrakech leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Tamarindo 18: Marrakech leads by 54 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Tamarindo 36: Marrakech leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Tamarindo 10: Marrakech leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Tamarindo 45: Marrakech leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Marrakech
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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
MarrakechTamarindo

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. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechTamarindo
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation465 m27 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechTamarindo
City population1,002,6977,132
People per km²4,36057
Museums within 10 km140
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Marrakech 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). 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.