VacationSelector
The arch at the entrance to the boardwalk, Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City, MarylandThe arch at the entrance to the boardwalk
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Ocean City, Maryland by Dough4872, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Ocean City, Maryland 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 Ocean City, Maryland for

  • families
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Ocean City, Maryland’s own page.

Choose Tamarindo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

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. Ocean City, Maryland 78, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Ocean City, Maryland 40, Tamarindo 38: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Ocean City, Maryland 14, Tamarindo 5: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Ocean City, Maryland and Tamarindo are level on 45.
Nature & outdoors. Ocean City, Maryland 50, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Ocean City, Maryland 42, Tamarindo 28: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Ocean City, Maryland 78, Tamarindo 55: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Ocean City, Maryland 34, Tamarindo 32: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Ocean City, Maryland 24, Tamarindo 18: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Ocean City, Maryland 40, Tamarindo 36: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ocean City, Maryland 18, Tamarindo 10: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ocean City, Maryland 22, Tamarindo 45: Tamarindo leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ocean City, Maryland and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Ocean City, Maryland
40match

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.

Ocean City, Maryland in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
24 °Csea
15 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
Ocean City, MarylandTamarindo

Where the figures come from

Ocean City, Maryland 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. Ocean City, Maryland: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Ocean City / Morris Mobile Home Park (10.2 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOcean City, MarylandTamarindo
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
Elevation2 m27 m
Main airportSalisbury Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY)39 km from centre4 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOcean City, MarylandTamarindo
City population6,8447,132
People per km²7357
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ocean City, Maryland 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.