VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Acapulco or Los Angeles?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Acapulco leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 39 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Los Angeles 25: Acapulco leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Los Angeles 24: Acapulco leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 57 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Los Angeles.

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.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoLos Angeles
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation18 m106 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoLos Angeles
City population658,6093,898,747
People per km²3502,994
Museums within 10 km339
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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