VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Acapulco or Chicago?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Acapulco leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Chicago 48: Acapulco leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Chicago 42: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Chicago 33: Acapulco leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Chicago 33: Chicago leads by 1 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Chicago.

Your match

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

Acapulco
44match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoChicago
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation18 m179 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoChicago
City population658,6092,746,388
People per km²3504,529
Museums within 10 km344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Acapulco or Chicago 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. 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.