VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Rocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay, Huatulco
HuatulcoRocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Huatulco by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Huatulco?

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 Alicante for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Huatulco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Huatulco’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. Alicante 82, Huatulco 86: Huatulco leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Huatulco 44: Alicante leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Huatulco 15: Alicante leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Huatulco 24: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Huatulco 76: Huatulco leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Huatulco 40: Alicante leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Huatulco 56: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Huatulco 33: Alicante leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Huatulco 20: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Huatulco 62: Huatulco leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Huatulco 9: Alicante leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Huatulco 52: Huatulco leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Huatulco.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Huatulco
43match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Huatulco in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
156 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteHuatulco

Where the figures come from

Huatulco's temperatures are measured 42 km from the centre, at Puerto Angel, Oax..

Huatulco's station stands 177 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Huatulco 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. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Huatulco: 1991-2020 normals, Puerto Angel, Oax. (42.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteHuatulco
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m220 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteHuatulco
City population366,2217,409
People per km²1,819-
Museums within 10 km80
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Huatulco somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.