VacationSelector
A palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay, Akumal
AkumalA palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay
The beach and pier at uShaka, Durban
DurbanThe beach and pier at uShaka

Photos: Akumal by Alfonzo Buscemi, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Durban by Ossewa, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Akumal or Durban?

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

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Durban for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Durban’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, Durban 80: Akumal leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Akumal 28, Durban 60: Durban leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Akumal 6, Durban 38: Durban leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Akumal 7, Durban 40: Durban leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Akumal 77, Durban 68: Akumal leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Akumal 68, Durban 38: Akumal leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Akumal 70, Durban 60: Akumal leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Akumal 18, Durban 20: Durban leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Akumal 7, Durban 42: Durban leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Akumal 36, Durban 72: Durban leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Akumal 4, Durban 40: Durban leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Akumal 55, Durban 30: Akumal leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Akumal and Durban.

Your match

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

Akumal
39match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Durban
Best match
49match

Wins on prices 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.

Akumal in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Durban in July

23 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AkumalDurban

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.

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. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAkumalDurban
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation11 m22 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)85 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAkumalDurban
City population2,154595,061
People per km²-2,634
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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