VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Acapulco or Philadelphia?

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

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Acapulco leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Philadelphia 55: Acapulco leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Philadelphia 52: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 65 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Philadelphia 40: Acapulco leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Philadelphia 26: Acapulco leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Acapulco
44match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts 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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoPhiladelphia
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation18 m12 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoPhiladelphia
City population658,6091,603,797
People per km²3504,339
Museums within 10 km354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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