VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
White sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores
Gulf ShoresWhite sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Gulf Shores by ourgulfshoresvacation.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala or Gulf Shores?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Gulf Shores for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Gulf Shores’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, Gulf Shores 84: Gulf Shores leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Gulf Shores 38: Antigua Guatemala leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Gulf Shores 12: Antigua Guatemala leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Gulf Shores 32: Antigua Guatemala leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Gulf Shores 52: Antigua Guatemala leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Gulf Shores 52: Antigua Guatemala leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Gulf Shores 75: Gulf Shores leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Gulf Shores 15: Antigua Guatemala leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Gulf Shores 22: Antigua Guatemala leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Gulf Shores 42: Antigua Guatemala leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Gulf Shores 27: Gulf Shores leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Gulf Shores 28: Antigua Guatemala leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Gulf Shores.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
Best match
47match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Gulf Shores
40match

Wins on beaches and families 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Gulf Shores in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
165 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaGulf Shores

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.

Gulf Shores 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.

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). Gulf Shores: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaGulf Shores
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123911
Elevation1,582 m2 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)54 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaGulf Shores
City population59,09115,014
People per km²-207
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Gulf Shores 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.