VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Mazatlan?

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 Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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. Amsterdam 25, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Mazatlan 42: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Mazatlan 55: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Mazatlan 66: Mazatlan leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Mazatlan 45: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Mazatlan 60: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Mazatlan 42: Amsterdam leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Mazatlan 30: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Mazatlan 40: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Mazatlan 35: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on beaches 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.

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamMazatlan

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamMazatlan
Official languageDutchSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m139 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamMazatlan
City population921,468441,975
People per km²4,208-
Museums within 10 km1013
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

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