VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Oaxaca?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Barcelona leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Oaxaca 74: Barcelona leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Oaxaca 40: Barcelona leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Oaxaca 62: Barcelona leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Oaxaca 65: Barcelona leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Oaxaca 40: Barcelona leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Oaxaca 55: Barcelona leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Oaxaca 62: Barcelona leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Oaxaca 38: Barcelona leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Oaxaca.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaOaxaca
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-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation9 m1,555 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaOaxaca
City population1,731,649258,913
People per km²17,0943,028
Museums within 10 km9510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Oaxaca 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.