VacationSelector
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Tamarindo or Tampa?

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 Tamarindo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Tampa for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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. Tamarindo 85, Tampa 70: Tamarindo leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Tamarindo 38, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Tamarindo 5, Tampa 42: Tampa leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Tamarindo 45, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tamarindo 76, Tampa 55: Tamarindo leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Tamarindo 28, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Tamarindo 55, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Tamarindo 32, Tampa 22: Tamarindo leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Tamarindo 18, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Tamarindo 36, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tamarindo 10, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tamarindo 45, Tampa 30: Tamarindo leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tamarindo and Tampa.

Your match

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

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Tampa
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
TamarindoTampa

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. Tamarindo: 1991-2020 normals, Liberia (53.8 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTamarindoTampa
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation27 m30 m
Main airportDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureTamarindoTampa
City population7,132384,959
People per km²57848
Museums within 10 km06
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Tamarindo or Tampa 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.