VacationSelector
Playa Tamarindo, Tamarindo
TamarindoPlaya Tamarindo
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Tamarindo by Jarle Naustvik, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Tamarindo or Zurich?

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

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Tamarindo leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Tamarindo 38, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Tamarindo 5, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Tamarindo 45, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tamarindo 76, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Tamarindo 28, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Tamarindo 55, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Tamarindo 32, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 63 points.
Shopping & style. Tamarindo 18, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Tamarindo 36, Zurich 3: Tamarindo leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tamarindo 10, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 60 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tamarindo 45, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tamarindo and Zurich.

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.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
TamarindoZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTamarindoZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation27 m408 m
Main airportDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)43 km from centre30 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureTamarindoZurich
City population7,132440,935
People per km²575,016
Museums within 10 km063
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Zurich 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. 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.