VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Acapulco or Sydney?

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 Sydney for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Sydney 60: Acapulco leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Sydney 22: Acapulco leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Sydney.

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.

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoSydney
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number911000
Elevation18 m6 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoSydney
City population658,6095,450,496
People per km²350449
Museums within 10 km338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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