VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License.

Acapulco or Alicante?

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 Acapulco for

  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Alicante for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Alicante’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. Acapulco 80, Alicante 82: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Alicante 67: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Alicante 46: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Alicante 60: Acapulco leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Alicante 63: Alicante leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Alicante 72: Alicante leads by 57 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Alicante 68: Alicante leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Alicante 66: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Alicante 44: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Alicante 60: Acapulco leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Alicante 37: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Alicante 40: Alicante leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Alicante.

Your match

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

Acapulco
44match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Acapulco in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
226 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoAlicante

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoAlicante
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation18 m3 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoAlicante
City population658,609366,221
People per km²3501,819
Museums within 10 km38
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Acapulco or Alicante 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.