VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Cancun or Philadelphia?

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

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Cancun leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Philadelphia 55: Cancun leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Philadelphia 52: Cancun leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Philadelphia 68: Cancun leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Philadelphia 40: Cancun leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 55 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Philadelphia 26: Cancun leads by 29 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Cancun
52match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunPhiladelphia

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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCancunPhiladelphia
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 m12 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunPhiladelphia
City population888,7971,603,797
People per km²-4,339
Museums within 10 km154
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or Philadelphia 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.