VacationSelector
Titanic Belfast, Belfast
BelfastTitanic Belfast
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Belfast by Nico Kaiser, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Belfast or Merida?

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 Belfast for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Merida for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Merida’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. Belfast 20, Merida 50: Merida leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Belfast 50, Merida 72: Merida leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Belfast 55, Merida 64: Merida leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Belfast 50, Merida 42: Belfast leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Belfast 74, Merida 48: Belfast leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Belfast 66, Merida 80: Merida leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Belfast 58, Merida 50: Belfast leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Belfast 62, Merida 45: Belfast leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Belfast 45, Merida 50: Merida leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Belfast 48, Merida 75: Merida leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Belfast 55, Merida 52: Belfast leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Belfast 25, Merida 40: Merida leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Belfast and Merida.

Your match

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

Belfast
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Merida
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Belfast in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BelfastMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Belfast: 1991-2020 normals, Belfast / Aldergrove Airport (19.4 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBelfastMerida
Official languageEnglishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation3 m12 m
Main airportGeorge Best Belfast City Airport (BHD)4 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBelfastMerida
City population345,006892,363
People per km²3,0001,010
Museums within 10 km85
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

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