VacationSelector
A palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay, Akumal
AkumalA palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay
The main beach with the green hills behind, Sayulita
SayulitaThe main beach with the green hills behind

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

Akumal or Sayulita?

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

  • families
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Sayulita for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sayulita’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, Sayulita 80: Akumal leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Akumal 28, Sayulita 42: Sayulita leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Akumal 6, Sayulita 7: Sayulita leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Akumal 7, Sayulita 33: Sayulita leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Akumal 77, Sayulita 72: Akumal leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Akumal 68, Sayulita 42: Akumal leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Akumal 70, Sayulita 42: Akumal leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Akumal 18, Sayulita 48: Sayulita leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Akumal 7, Sayulita 33: Sayulita leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Akumal 36, Sayulita 45: Sayulita leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Akumal 4, Sayulita 12: Sayulita leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Akumal 55, Sayulita 58: Sayulita leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Akumal and Sayulita.

Your match

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

Akumal
39match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Sayulita
Best match
43match

Wins on getting around and nightlife 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

Sayulita in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
342 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AkumalSayulita

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.

Sayulita 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. Sayulita: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAkumalSayulita
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m2 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)85 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)29 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAkumalSayulita
City population2,1543,390
Museums within 10 km00
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 Sayulita 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. 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.