Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
Cancun or Taipei?
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
- nightlife
- families
What lies behind each score is written up on Cancun’s own page.
Choose Taipei for
- getting around
- culture and sights
- food and drink
What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Taipei.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on getting around 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
Taipei in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Taipei has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
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. Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Cancun | Taipei |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | Taiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | New Taiwan Dollar (TWD) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | AB110 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC+8 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 110 or 112 or 119 |
| Elevation | 5 m | 10 m |
| Main airport | Cancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinations | Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | - |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cancun | Taipei |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 888,797 | 2,429,429 |
| People per km² | - | 8,938 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 69 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 8 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or Taipei somewhere new.