VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cancun or Fort Lauderdale?

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 Cancun for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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. Cancun 98, Fort Lauderdale 88: Cancun leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Fort Lauderdale 47: Fort Lauderdale leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Fort Lauderdale 28: Fort Lauderdale leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Fort Lauderdale 52: Cancun leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Fort Lauderdale 62: Cancun leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Fort Lauderdale 58: Cancun leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Fort Lauderdale 66: Cancun leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Fort Lauderdale 32: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Fort Lauderdale 32: Cancun leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Fort Lauderdale 40: Cancun leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cancun
52match

Wins on nightlife and wellness with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cancun in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunFort Lauderdale

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. Cancun: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCancunFort Lauderdale
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation5 m11 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunFort Lauderdale
City population888,797182,760
People per km²-1,829
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or Fort Lauderdale somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.