VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Cancun or Ushuaia?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: Cancun leads by 95 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Ushuaia 40: Cancun leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Ushuaia 22: Ushuaia leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Ushuaia 18: Cancun leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Ushuaia 14: Cancun leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Ushuaia 40: Cancun leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Ushuaia 45: Ushuaia leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Ushuaia 22: Cancun leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Ushuaia 42: Cancun leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Ushuaia 10: Cancun leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Ushuaia 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 Ushuaia.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunUshuaia

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. Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCancunUshuaia
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation5 m23 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunUshuaia
City population888,79782,615
People per km²-3,592
Museums within 10 km15
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Ushuaia 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.