Tamarindo weather by month
The best time to visit Tamarindo is January to March — 93/100 in January, 32°C and 1 rainy day. The best season is the dry season, December to April (90/100 on average).
The worst month is October at 54/100 — sweltering, soaked, clean air. See October →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit Costa Rica →
Best season: December to April (90/100 on average) · worst October (54/100)
- Days
- 32°C
- Nights
- 25°C
- Wet days
- 1
- Sun
- 10.5 h
- Humidity
- 67%
- Daylight
- 12 h
Tamarindo, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Tamarindo is best for, the average high, rainy days and hours of sun a day from the climate normals, and how busy it tends to be.
What's on in Tamarindo through the year
Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.
Crowds in Tamarindo in January
How busy the place itself is — school and mass holidays, the months an editor tagged, and how sought-after the weather makes them. Never part of the comfort score.
Peak crowdsDry season, Christmas and New Year, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Tamarindo
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
adventure
The main beach break right in town turned out to be about as forgiving as surfing gets, a soft sandy bottom and waves breaking close enough to shore that neither of us had to paddle far to catch our first rides. We booked a few consecutive days of lessons rather than a single session, and the progression over those mornings made a noticeable difference by day three. Once we felt more confident we tried Playa Grande and Langosta nearby for punchier waves, a clear step up from the beginner break in town. We visited in February, right in the recommended window for mellow, offshore-wind conditions, and the intense midday sun made reapplying sunscreen between sessions a genuine necessity.
Traveller notes on Tamarindo
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters describe January as dry and beautiful, squarely inside Guanacaste's dry season - daytime highs commonly in the low 30sC with bright sun essentially every day, evenings cooling to a comfortable high-20sC. The landscape stays green early in the dry season, though posters note the strong 'December winds' (part of the broader Papagayo/Guanacaste wind pattern) can already be drying things out fast. Beaches generally aren't too windy through most of January, though the very start of the month - the wet-to-dry season transition - can see a stronger, gustier stretch. Overall, posters consistently rate January among the most reliable months here for classic sunny beach weather.
Tamarindo's forum consistently rates July as one of the better rainy-season months - genuinely the driest stretch of the wet season here, with sunny mornings, clouding over by early afternoon, and a shower or thunderstorm that clears out again rather than lingering. Locals reportedly call this the 'little summer of San Juan,' a real break within the rainy season that feels more like a dry-season week. Daytime temperatures stay in the high 80s F, and forum regulars were clear this counts as a genuinely good month to visit, not a compromise pick.
Add your own note from Tamarindo's card on the map.