VacationSelector
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Tamarindo or Zagreb?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Tamarindo leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Tamarindo 38, Zagreb 55: Zagreb leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Tamarindo 5, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Tamarindo 45, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tamarindo 76, Zagreb 62: Tamarindo leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Tamarindo 28, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Tamarindo 55, Zagreb 52: Tamarindo leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Tamarindo 32, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Tamarindo 18, Zagreb 40: Zagreb leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Tamarindo 36, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tamarindo 10, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tamarindo 45, Zagreb 33: Tamarindo leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tamarindo and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Tamarindo
39match

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

Zagreb
Best match
50match

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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
TamarindoZagreb

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTamarindoZagreb
Official languageSpanishCroatian
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation27 m127 m
Main airportDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureTamarindoZagreb
City population7,132767,131
People per km²57-
Museums within 10 km027
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 Zagreb 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.