VacationSelector
A palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay, Akumal
AkumalA palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Akumal by Alfonzo Buscemi, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Akumal or Fort Lauderdale?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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 and Fort Lauderdale are level on 88.
Food & drink. Akumal 28, Fort Lauderdale 47: Fort Lauderdale leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Akumal 6, Fort Lauderdale 28: Fort Lauderdale leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Akumal 7, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Akumal 77, Fort Lauderdale 62: Akumal leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Akumal 68, Fort Lauderdale 58: Akumal leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Akumal 70, Fort Lauderdale 66: Akumal leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Akumal 18, Fort Lauderdale 32: Fort Lauderdale leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Akumal 7, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 45 points.
Affordability. Akumal 36, Fort Lauderdale 32: Akumal leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Akumal 4, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Akumal 55, Fort Lauderdale 40: Akumal leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Akumal and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

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

Akumal
39match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on nightlife and shopping 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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AkumalFort Lauderdale

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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAkumalFort Lauderdale
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m11 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)85 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAkumalFort Lauderdale
City population2,154182,760
People per km²-1,829
Museums within 10 km06
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Fort Lauderdale 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.