VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Busan 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 Busan for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Busan’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. Busan 68, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Mazatlan 62: Busan leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Mazatlan 42: Busan leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Mazatlan 55: Busan leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Mazatlan 66: Busan leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Mazatlan 45: Busan leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Mazatlan 60: Busan leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Mazatlan 42: Busan leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Mazatlan 30: Busan leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Mazatlan 40: Busan leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Mazatlan 35: Busan leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Busan
Best match
65match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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.

Busan in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
352 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BusanMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBusanMazatlan
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyWon (KRW)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119911
Elevation30 m139 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBusanMazatlan
City population3,453,198441,975
People per km²4,486-
Museums within 10 km73
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Busan 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.