VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Cancun or Reykjavik?

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
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Cancun leads by 86 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Reykjavik 42: Cancun leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Reykjavik 45: Cancun leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Reykjavik 35: Cancun leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Reykjavik 55: Cancun leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Reykjavik 25: Cancun leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Reykjavik 6: Cancun leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cancun
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and getting around 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

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunReykjavik

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. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCancunReykjavik
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaIcelandic
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC
Emergency number911112
Elevation5 m8 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunReykjavik
City population888,797138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km123
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or Reykjavik 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.