Tamarindo is one of Guanacaste's most visited towns, and for good reason: a wide beach break accessible to beginners and experienced surfers alike, a short walk to world-class wildlife viewing, and the kind of small-town feel that bigger resort areas have long since lost. These guides are written from the perspective of people who live here and know the place across both seasons, not from a press trip itinerary put together in two days.
Whether you're planning your first trip to Costa Rica or trying to decide whether dry season or green season makes more sense for your schedule, the articles below cover the practical questions guests ask us most often. If you have a question we haven't answered here, the front desk at Cabinas Marielos is happy to help, as is the contact page.
Most visitors book Tamarindo based on avoiding rain, and that's the wrong way to pick dates. Here's how dry season (December to April) and green season (May to November) actually compare, month by month, and which one suits different types of travelers. Covers surf conditions, turtle nesting season timing, wildlife, crowd levels, and price differences.
Read guide →If you're already booked and just need fast answers, these pages on the main site cover the most common pre-arrival questions:
Cabinas Marielos has been welcoming guests to Tamarindo for many years. The property is owned and run by Marielos, a native Costa Rican and retired university professor who grew up watching Tamarindo change from a quiet fishing village into the surf and tourism destination it is today. The travel guides published here draw on that local knowledge: what the seasons actually look like from inside the town, which activities hold up in rain and which don't, and the kind of practical advice that doesn't make it into most travel articles because the writer was only here for a long weekend.
Tamarindo has two very different faces depending on when you arrive and where you're staying. Being across the street from the beach puts us at the center of both of them, and we're happy to share what we know.