VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License.

Biarritz or Cancun?

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 Biarritz for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Cancun for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Cancun’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. Biarritz 68, Cancun 98: Cancun leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Cancun 44: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Cancun 15: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Cancun 70: Cancun leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Cancun 66: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Cancun 65: Biarritz leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Cancun 78: Cancun leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Cancun 25: Biarritz leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Cancun 40: Biarritz leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Cancun 46: Cancun leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Cancun 17: Biarritz leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Cancun 55: Biarritz leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Cancun.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Biarritz
54match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Cancun
52match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Cancun in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzCancun

Where the figures come from

Cancun 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. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Cancun: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzCancun
Official languageFrenchSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation0 m5 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzCancun
City population26,206888,797
People per km²2,240-
Museums within 10 km81
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz or Cancun 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.