VacationSelector
The skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind, Anchorage
AnchorageThe skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind
Playa de los Muertos below the green hills, Puerto Vallarta
Puerto VallartaPlaya de los Muertos below the green hills

Photos: Anchorage by Frank K., CC BY 2.0, cropped; Puerto Vallarta by RL0919, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Anchorage or Puerto Vallarta?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Puerto Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Vallarta’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, Puerto Vallarta 85: Puerto Vallarta leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Anchorage 40, Puerto Vallarta 62: Puerto Vallarta leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Anchorage 35, Puerto Vallarta 28: Anchorage leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Anchorage 30, Puerto Vallarta 66: Puerto Vallarta leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Anchorage 93, Puerto Vallarta 76: Anchorage leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Anchorage 33, Puerto Vallarta 55: Puerto Vallarta leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Anchorage 55, Puerto Vallarta 65: Puerto Vallarta leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Anchorage 22, Puerto Vallarta 45: Puerto Vallarta leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Anchorage 28, Puerto Vallarta 42: Puerto Vallarta leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Anchorage 28, Puerto Vallarta 60: Puerto Vallarta leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Anchorage 34, Puerto Vallarta 32: Anchorage leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Anchorage 32, Puerto Vallarta 52: Puerto Vallarta leads by 20 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Anchorage and Puerto Vallarta.

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 and culture and sights with your weighting.

Puerto Vallarta
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches 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.

Anchorage in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Puerto Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
209 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AnchoragePuerto Vallarta

Where the figures come from

Puerto Vallarta 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. Anchorage: 1991-2020 normals, Anchorage Air Force Base (7 km from centre). Puerto Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAnchoragePuerto Vallarta
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-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation31 m101 m
Main airportTed Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)7 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)5 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnchoragePuerto Vallarta
City population291,247224,166
People per km²584,311
Museums within 10 km52
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Puerto Vallarta 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.