VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Antigua Guatemala or Mexico City?

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 Mexico City for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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, Mexico City 5: Antigua Guatemala leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Mexico City 50: Antigua Guatemala leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Mexico City 50: Antigua Guatemala leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Mexico City 40: Antigua Guatemala leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Mexico City.

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.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

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
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaMexico City

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.

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). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaMexico City
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 m2,240 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaMexico City
City population59,0919,209,944
People per km²-6,202
Museums within 10 km2108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Mexico City 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. 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.