VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cancun or Puerto Princesa?

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

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Puerto Princesa for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Princesa’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, Puerto Princesa 58: Cancun leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Puerto Princesa 38: Cancun leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Puerto Princesa 22: Puerto Princesa leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Puerto Princesa 26: Cancun leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Puerto Princesa 80: Puerto Princesa leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Puerto Princesa 12: Cancun leads by 53 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Puerto Princesa 45: Cancun leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Puerto Princesa 30: Puerto Princesa leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Puerto Princesa 20: Cancun leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Puerto Princesa 78: Puerto Princesa leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Puerto Princesa 10: Cancun leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Puerto Princesa 40: Cancun leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Puerto Princesa.

Your match

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

Cancun
Best match
52match

Wins on day trips and nightlife with your weighting.

Puerto Princesa
38match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Puerto Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunPuerto Princesa

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.

Puerto Princesa 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. Puerto Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureCancunPuerto Princesa
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation5 m98 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunPuerto Princesa
City population888,797316,384
People per km²-133
Museums within 10 km11
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 Puerto Princesa 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. 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.