VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Austin or Guadalajara?

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 Austin for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Guadalajara for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Guadalajara’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. Austin 30, Guadalajara 5: Austin leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Guadalajara 75: Guadalajara leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Guadalajara 62: Guadalajara leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Guadalajara 68: Guadalajara leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Guadalajara 55: Austin leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Guadalajara 66: Guadalajara leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Austin and Guadalajara are level on 55.
Getting around. Austin 30, Guadalajara 40: Guadalajara leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Guadalajara 60: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Guadalajara 78: Guadalajara leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Guadalajara 60: Austin leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Guadalajara 35: Austin leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Guadalajara.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AustinGuadalajara

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara 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. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAustinGuadalajara
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation149 m1,536 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinGuadalajara
City population961,8551,385,621
People per km²1,2179,556
Museums within 10 km2117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Guadalajara 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.