VacationSelector
Skiers at the Albion base of the ski area, Alta, Utah
Alta, UtahSkiers at the Albion base of the ski area
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas

Photos: Alta, Utah by Sumanch, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Alta, Utah or Guadalajara?

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 Alta, Utah for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Alta, Utah’s own page.

Choose Guadalajara for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Guadalajara’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. Alta, Utah 3, Guadalajara 5: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Alta, Utah 15, Guadalajara 75: Guadalajara leads by 60 points.
Culture & sights. Alta, Utah 5, Guadalajara 62: Guadalajara leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Alta, Utah 4, Guadalajara 68: Guadalajara leads by 64 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alta, Utah 90, Guadalajara 55: Alta, Utah leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Alta, Utah 40, Guadalajara 66: Guadalajara leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Alta, Utah 30, Guadalajara 55: Guadalajara leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Alta, Utah 35, Guadalajara 40: Guadalajara leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Alta, Utah 4, Guadalajara 60: Guadalajara leads by 56 points.
Affordability. Alta, Utah 15, Guadalajara 78: Guadalajara leads by 63 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alta, Utah 3, Guadalajara 60: Guadalajara leads by 57 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alta, Utah and Guadalajara are level on 35.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alta, Utah and Guadalajara.

Your match

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

Alta, Utah
23match

Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alta, Utah in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Alta, UtahGuadalajara

Where the figures come from

Alta, Utah 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.

Guadalajara 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. Alta, Utah: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAlta, UtahGuadalajara
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,610 m1,536 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)37 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre68 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlta, UtahGuadalajara
City population2281,385,621
People per km²199,556
Museums within 10 km017
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alta, Utah or Guadalajara 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. 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.