VacationSelector
A palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay, Akumal
AkumalA palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay
Ross Castle on Lough Leane, Killarney
KillarneyRoss Castle on Lough Leane

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

Akumal or Killarney?

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
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Killarney for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Killarney’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, Killarney 22: Akumal leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Akumal 28, Killarney 33: Killarney leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Akumal 6, Killarney 28: Killarney leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Akumal 7, Killarney 32: Killarney leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Akumal 77, Killarney 82: Killarney leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Akumal 68, Killarney 58: Akumal leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Akumal 70, Killarney 42: Akumal leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Akumal 18, Killarney 47: Killarney leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Akumal 7, Killarney 22: Killarney leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Akumal 36, Killarney 35: Akumal leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Akumal 4, Killarney 35: Killarney leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Akumal 55, Killarney 42: Akumal leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Akumal and Killarney.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Akumal
39match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Killarney
40match

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.

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

Killarney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
88 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AkumalKillarney

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.

Killarney's temperatures are measured 53 km from the centre, at Valentia Observatory.

Killarney has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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. Killarney: 1991-2020 normals, Valentia Observatory (52.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAkumalKillarney
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Irish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation11 m50 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)85 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsKerry Airport (KIR)14 km from centre10 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAkumalKillarney
City population2,15414,412
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Akumal or Killarney 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.