VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Myrtle Beach 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 Myrtle Beach for

  • families
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • 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. Myrtle Beach 84, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach and Tamarindo are level on 38.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Tamarindo 5: Myrtle Beach leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, Tamarindo 28: Myrtle Beach leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Tamarindo 55: Myrtle Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Tamarindo 32: Tamarindo leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Tamarindo 18: Myrtle Beach leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Tamarindo 36: Myrtle Beach leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, Tamarindo 10: Myrtle Beach leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Myrtle Beach
Best match
44match

Wins on families and day trips 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.

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
28 °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
Myrtle BeachTamarindo

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach 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. Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachTamarindo
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
Elevation8 m27 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachTamarindo
City population35,6827,132
People per km²59157
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Myrtle Beach 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.