VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala or Medellin?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Medellin for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Antigua Guatemala leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Medellin 42: Antigua Guatemala leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Medellin 66: Antigua Guatemala leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Medellin 50: Medellin leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Medellin 55: Antigua Guatemala leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala and Medellin are level on 45.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Medellin 30: Antigua Guatemala leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Medellin.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaMedellin

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.

Medellin 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). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaMedellin
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123123
Elevation1,582 m1,405 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre35 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaMedellin
City population59,0912,529,403
People per km²-6,644
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Medellin 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.