VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala 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 Antigua Guatemala for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Guadalajara for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • 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. Antigua Guatemala 6, Guadalajara 5: Antigua Guatemala leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Guadalajara 75: Guadalajara leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Guadalajara 62: Antigua Guatemala leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Guadalajara 68: Guadalajara leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Guadalajara 55: Antigua Guatemala leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Guadalajara 66: Guadalajara leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Guadalajara 55: Guadalajara leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Guadalajara 40: Antigua Guatemala leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Guadalajara 60: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Guadalajara 78: Guadalajara leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Guadalajara 60: Guadalajara leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Guadalajara 35: Antigua Guatemala leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Guadalajara.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Antigua Guatemala in July

25 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
13 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

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaGuadalajara

Where the figures come from

Antigua Guatemala 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.

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. Antigua Guatemala: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Guatemala Aeropuertola Aurora (23.5 km from centre). Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaGuadalajara
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123911
Elevation1,582 m1,536 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaGuadalajara
City population59,0911,385,621
People per km²-9,556
Museums within 10 km217
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Guadalajara 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.