VacationSelector
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Panama City 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 Panama City for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tamarindo for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • families

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. Panama City 44, Tamarindo 85: Tamarindo leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Tamarindo 38: Panama City leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Tamarindo 5: Panama City leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Tamarindo 45: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Tamarindo 76: Tamarindo leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Tamarindo 28: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Tamarindo 55: Tamarindo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Tamarindo 32: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Tamarindo 18: Panama City leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Tamarindo 36: Panama City leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Tamarindo 10: Panama City leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 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: Panama City and Tamarindo.

Your match

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

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on beaches 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.

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityTamarindo

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityTamarindo
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation20 m27 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityTamarindo
City population1,540,0007,132
People per km²5,60057
Museums within 10 km100
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Panama City 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). 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. 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.