VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Guadalajara?

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 Chicago for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Guadalajara for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Guadalajara’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. Chicago 50, Guadalajara 5: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Guadalajara 75: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Guadalajara 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Guadalajara 68: Chicago leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Guadalajara 55: Guadalajara leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Guadalajara 66: Guadalajara leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Guadalajara 55: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Guadalajara 40: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Guadalajara 60: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Guadalajara 78: Guadalajara leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Guadalajara 60: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Guadalajara 35: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Guadalajara.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoGuadalajara

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara 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. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureChicagoGuadalajara
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m1,536 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoGuadalajara
City population2,746,3881,385,621
People per km²4,5299,556
Museums within 10 km4417
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Guadalajara somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.