VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Bologna 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 Bologna for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Merida for

  • prices
  • beaches

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. Bologna 30, Merida 50: Merida leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Merida 72: Bologna leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Merida 64: Bologna leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Merida 42: Bologna leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Merida 48: Bologna leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Merida 80: Bologna leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Bologna and Merida are level on 50.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Merida 45: Bologna leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Merida 50: Bologna leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Merida 75: Merida leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Merida 52: Bologna leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna and Merida are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Merida.

Your match

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

Bologna
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Merida
56match

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.

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
BolognaMerida

Where the figures come from

Bologna has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaMerida
Official languageItalianSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation54 m12 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaMerida
City population387,971892,363
People per km²2,7541,010
Museums within 10 km685
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bologna 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.