VacationSelector
The skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind, Anchorage
AnchorageThe skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Anchorage by Frank K., CC BY 2.0, cropped; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Anchorage 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 Anchorage for

  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Anchorage 8, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Anchorage 40, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Anchorage 35, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Anchorage 30, Mazatlan 55: Mazatlan leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Anchorage 93, Mazatlan 66: Anchorage leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Anchorage 33, Mazatlan 45: Mazatlan leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Anchorage 55, Mazatlan 60: Mazatlan leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Anchorage 22, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Anchorage 28, Mazatlan 30: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Anchorage 28, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Anchorage 34, Mazatlan 40: Mazatlan leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Anchorage 32, Mazatlan 35: Mazatlan leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Anchorage and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Anchorage
37match

Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Mazatlan
Best match
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.

Anchorage in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AnchorageMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Anchorage: 1991-2020 normals, Anchorage Air Force Base (7 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnchorageMazatlan
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-9, UTC-8 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation31 m139 m
Main airportTed Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)7 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnchorageMazatlan
City population291,247441,975
People per km²58-
Museums within 10 km53
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Anchorage 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). 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.