VacationSelector
Galena Street with the runs of Aspen Mountain, Aspen
AspenGalena Street with the runs of Aspen Mountain
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley

Photos: Aspen by Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Aspen or Mendoza?

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 Aspen for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Mendoza for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Mendoza’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. Aspen and Mendoza are level on 6.
Food & drink. Aspen 45, Mendoza 68: Mendoza leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Aspen 22, Mendoza 30: Mendoza leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Aspen and Mendoza are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Aspen 95, Mendoza 83: Aspen leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Aspen 30, Mendoza 52: Mendoza leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Aspen 55, Mendoza 42: Aspen leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Aspen 72, Mendoza 48: Aspen leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Aspen 50, Mendoza 33: Aspen leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Aspen 5, Mendoza 56: Mendoza leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aspen 50, Mendoza 33: Aspen leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aspen 50, Mendoza 55: Mendoza leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aspen and Mendoza.

Your match

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

Aspen
43match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Mendoza
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Aspen in July

27 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
33 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

01020304050JFMAMJJASOND
AspenMendoza

Where the figures come from

Aspen 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. Aspen: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Aspen / Woody Creek (5.2 km from centre). Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAspenMendoza
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation2,405 m769 m
Main airportAspen-Pitkin County Airport (Sardy Field) (ASE)5 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAspenMendoza
City population7,004127,160
People per km²7002,355
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aspen or Mendoza 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.