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Photo by Tamarindowiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Tamarindo
Costa Rica · Latin America
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Tamarindo
Tap a month for its page
- JanJTamarindo in January: sweet spot, busy
- FebFTamarindo in February: sweet spot, busy
- MarMTamarindo in March: avoid
- AprATamarindo in April: sweet spot
- MayMTamarindo in May: avoid
- JunJTamarindo in June: avoid
- JulJTamarindo in July: avoid
- AugATamarindo in August: avoid
- SepSTamarindo in September: avoid
- OctOTamarindo in October: avoid
- NovNTamarindo in November: ok, busy
- DecDTamarindo in December: sweet spot, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Dry season: Dec–Apr, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.
Plan this trip
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Flights from
Flights
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Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 32° | 0d | 64% | 11.2h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Feb | 34° | 0d | 59% | 11.6h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Mar | 34° | 0d | 58% | 11.7h | avoid | extreme heat: 13 days over 35C |
| Apr | 34° | 4d | 66% | 11.4h | sweet spot | 34C max, 4 rainy days |
| May | 31° | 15d | 80% | 9.5h | avoid | monsoon: 15 rainy days, 262mm |
| Jun | 29° | 21d | 86% | 8.5h | avoid | monsoon: 21 rainy days, 378mm |
| Jul | 31° | 15d | 82% | 9.2h | avoid | monsoon: 15 rainy days, 230mm |
| Aug | 30° | 16d | 84% | 9.0h | avoid | monsoon: 16 rainy days, 284mm |
| Sep | 30° | 22d | 87% | 8.6h | avoid | monsoon: 22 rainy days, 332mm |
| Oct | 28° | 25d | 89% | 7.8h | avoid | monsoon: 25 rainy days, 527mm |
| Nov | 29° | 11d | 84% | 9.2h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Dec | 31° | 1d | 71% | 10.7h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Tamarindo beach town: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Tamarindo's March days now average 34.5°C, 1.7°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 6 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 31.3° | 32.3° | 32.8° | 33.3° | 30.9° | 28.9° | 29.1° | 28.9° | 28.4° | 28.2° | 28.8° | 30.1° |
| 2017–26 | 32.4° | 33.5° | 34.5° | 33.6° | 31.3° | 29.5° | 30.6° | 30.4° | 29.5° | 28.5° | 29.2° | 31.1° |
| Change | +1.1° | +1.2° | +1.7° | +0.3° | +0.4° | +0.6° | +1.5° | +1.4° | +1.1° | +0.2° | +0.4° | +1.0° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
Fly into Liberia (LIR), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Liberia.
The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.
How far Tamarindo is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Bogota
- from Mexico City
- from Miami
- from Fort Lauderdale
- from Tampa
- from Orlando
- from New Orleans
- from Houston
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Tamarindo, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Costa rican colón. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise a high degree of caution. US State Department: Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution. Everything for Costa Rica: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — The colón is the currency, but US dollars and major credit cards are widely accepted. ATMs are found across the country, though some close from 11pm to 5am and they take only a 4-digit PIN; change money only at banks and approved exchange offices.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Restaurant and hotel prices already include 13% VAT and a 10% tip; leave more only if the service was exceptional.
Getting around Tamarindo
- Apps — Rides: DiDi, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp. Use official taxis, red (orange at the airport) with a yellow triangle, booked ahead rather than hailed, and make sure the driver uses the meter. Uber and DiDi also operate, though no law regulates them yet.
The town is nice and small, a sort of miniature tropical paradise. You can find taxis, rent cars, bicycles, and a few scooters. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Tamarindo, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 8 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (15)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/costa-rica/getting-help
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/costa-rica/safety-and-security
- travel.gc.ca/destinations/costa-rica
- visitcostarica.com/planning-your-trip/tips
- visitcostarica.com/faqs
- ict.go.cr/flipbook/guias/flip-en/MINIGUIA_FORTUNA/files/basic-html/page41.html
- uber.com/global/en/r/cities/la-fortuna-alajuela-cr
- uber.com/global/en/r/costa-rica/cities
- web.didiglobal.com/cr/conductor/ciudades/san-carlos
- delfino.cr/2026/07/proyecto-para-regular-plataformas-tipo-uber-supera-282-mociones-y-vuelve-al-plenario
- cicom.ucr.ac.cr/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CICOM_Informe_Apps-2025.pdf
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Tamarindo in pictures
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Bob Henricks from Charlottesville, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Bob Henricks from Charlottesville, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Hiram Montiel Calder…, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Tamarindo is like
Tamarindo is in Costa Rica. Located on the Pacific Coast, Tamarindo is a popular destination for couples and families looking for a good time. With spectacular beaches and rainforests, Tamarindo is the epitome of everything that Costa Rica prides itself on. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Numerous lagoons in the area are filled with wonderful wildlife. Incredible sunsets and sunrises on beautiful beaches add to the overall experience. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Tamarindo has become a magnet for surfers and blue water sport fishermen, with a sport fishing fleet of talented and conservation oriented captains who are the pioneers of the Pacific coast. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- It is recommended to fly into Liberia International Airport (LIR IATA) and take a taxi from there which lasts approximately 1¼ hour. Or you can arrange a private transfer or shared shuttle. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Tamarindo, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Tamarindo
Also in Costa Rica
Nearby
- Panama City Panama · 707 km
- The Cayman Islands Cayman Islands · 1,113 km
- Tulum Mexico · 1,116 km
- Cozumel Mexico · 1,141 km
Kind of place
Tamarindo is in Costa Rica, Latin America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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