VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Mazatlan?

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 Cologne for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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. Cologne 14, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Mazatlan 42: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Mazatlan 55: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Mazatlan 66: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Mazatlan 45: Cologne leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Mazatlan 60: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Mazatlan 42: Cologne leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Mazatlan 30: Cologne leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Mazatlan 40: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Mazatlan 35: Cologne leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
CologneMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneMazatlan
Official languageGermanSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m139 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneMazatlan
City population1,025,523441,975
People per km²2,532-
Museums within 10 km403
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne or Mazatlan 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.