VacationSelector
A palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay, Akumal
AkumalA palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour

Photos: Akumal by Alfonzo Buscemi, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain.

Akumal or Auckland?

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 Akumal for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Auckland for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Auckland’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. Akumal 88, Auckland 68: Akumal leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Akumal 28, Auckland 62: Auckland leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Akumal 6, Auckland 44: Auckland leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Akumal 7, Auckland 42: Auckland leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Akumal 77, Auckland 83: Auckland leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Akumal 68, Auckland 55: Akumal leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Akumal and Auckland are level on 70.
Getting around. Akumal 18, Auckland 42: Auckland leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Akumal 7, Auckland 45: Auckland leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Akumal 36, Auckland 32: Akumal leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Akumal 4, Auckland 45: Auckland leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Akumal 55, Auckland 45: Akumal leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Akumal and Auckland.

Your match

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

Akumal
39match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Auckland
Best match
53match

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.

Akumal in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Auckland in July

14 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
135 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AkumalAuckland

Where the figures come from

Akumal has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Auckland's station stands 189 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Akumal: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAkumalAuckland
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation11 m196 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)85 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAkumalAuckland
City population2,1541,470,100
People per km²-2,630
Museums within 10 km015
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Akumal or Auckland somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.