VacationSelector
The Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza, Calgary
CalgaryThe Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Calgary by abdallahh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Calgary 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 Calgary for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

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. Calgary 8, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Calgary 45, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Calgary 35, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Calgary 40, Mazatlan 55: Mazatlan leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Calgary 88, Mazatlan 66: Calgary leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Calgary 55, Mazatlan 45: Calgary leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Calgary 68, Mazatlan 60: Calgary leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Calgary and Mazatlan are level on 42.
Shopping & style. Calgary 42, Mazatlan 30: Calgary leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Calgary 42, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Calgary 46, Mazatlan 40: Calgary leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Calgary 42, Mazatlan 35: Calgary leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Calgary and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Calgary
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and shopping with your weighting.

Mazatlan
Best match
52match

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.

Calgary in July

25 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
CalgaryMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Calgary: 1991-2020 normals, Calgary Int'l CS (8.2 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCalgaryMazatlan
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,045 m139 m
Main airportCalgary International Airport (YYC)9 km from centre102 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCalgaryMazatlan
City population1,306,784441,975
People per km²1,583-
Museums within 10 km133
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Calgary 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.