VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala or Rio de Janeiro?

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

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 86 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala and Rio de Janeiro are level on 68.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Rio de Janeiro 50: Antigua Guatemala leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Rio de Janeiro 44: Antigua Guatemala leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Rio de Janeiro 60: Antigua Guatemala leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

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.

Antigua Guatemala in July

25 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaRio de Janeiro

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.

Rio de Janeiro 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). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaRio de Janeiro
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation1,582 m31 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaRio de Janeiro
City population59,0916,211,223
People per km²-4,930
Museums within 10 km269
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Rio de Janeiro 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.