VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Dubai 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 Dubai for

  • shopping
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Dubai and Mazatlan are level on 80.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Mazatlan 62: Dubai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Mazatlan 55: Dubai leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Mazatlan 66: Mazatlan leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Dubai and Mazatlan are level on 45.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Mazatlan 60: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Dubai and Mazatlan are level on 42.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Mazatlan 30: Dubai leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai and Mazatlan are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Mazatlan 35: Dubai leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Dubai
54match

Wins on shopping and families with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Dubai in July

42 °Cdaytime high
33 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiMazatlan
Official languageArabicSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation0 m139 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiMazatlan
City population3,944,751441,975
Museums within 10 km143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dubai 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.