VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Mazatlan?

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 Barcelona for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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. Barcelona 75, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Mazatlan 62: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Mazatlan 42: Barcelona leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Mazatlan 55: Barcelona leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Mazatlan 66: Barcelona leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Mazatlan 45: Barcelona leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Mazatlan 60: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Mazatlan 42: Barcelona leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Mazatlan 30: Barcelona leads by 45 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Mazatlan 40: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Mazatlan 35: Barcelona leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaMazatlan
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation9 m139 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaMazatlan
City population1,731,649441,975
People per km²17,094-
Museums within 10 km953
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Mazatlan 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.