VacationSelector
A palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay, Akumal
AkumalA palm-lined beach on Akumal Bay
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Akumal by Alfonzo Buscemi, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Akumal or Scottsdale?

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
  • families

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Akumal leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Akumal 28, Scottsdale 46: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Akumal 6, Scottsdale 38: Scottsdale leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Akumal 7, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Akumal 77, Scottsdale 68: Akumal leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Akumal 68, Scottsdale 50: Akumal leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Akumal 70, Scottsdale 60: Akumal leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Akumal 18, Scottsdale 20: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Akumal 7, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 53 points.
Affordability. Akumal 36, Scottsdale 32: Akumal leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Akumal 4, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Akumal 55, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Akumal and Scottsdale.

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.

Scottsdale
Best match
46match

Wins on shopping 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AkumalScottsdale

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. Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAkumalScottsdale
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m380 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)85 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre149 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAkumalScottsdale
City population2,154241,361
Museums within 10 km010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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