VacationSelector
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Tamarindo or Whistler?

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

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Whistler for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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, Whistler 30: Tamarindo leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Tamarindo 38, Whistler 40: Whistler leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Tamarindo 5, Whistler 20: Whistler leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Tamarindo 45, Whistler 42: Tamarindo leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tamarindo 76, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Tamarindo 28, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Tamarindo 55, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Tamarindo 32, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Tamarindo 18, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Tamarindo 36, Whistler 12: Tamarindo leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tamarindo 10, Whistler 15: Whistler leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tamarindo 45, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tamarindo and Whistler.

Your match

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

Tamarindo
39match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Whistler
Best match
43match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
TamarindoWhistler

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.

Whistler 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). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTamarindoWhistler
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation27 m670 m
Main airportDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureTamarindoWhistler
City population7,13213,982
People per km²5758
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Tamarindo or Whistler 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.