VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Acapulco or Scottsdale?

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 Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Acapulco leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Scottsdale 46: Acapulco leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Scottsdale 38: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Scottsdale 52: Acapulco leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Scottsdale 20: Acapulco leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Scottsdale 32: Acapulco leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Acapulco
44match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and day trips 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoScottsdale
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation18 m380 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre149 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoScottsdale
City population658,609241,361
People per km²350-
Museums within 10 km310
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 Scottsdale 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.