VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Edinburgh or Mexico City?

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 Edinburgh for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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. Edinburgh 22, Mexico City 5: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Mexico City 50: Edinburgh leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh and Mexico City are level on 75.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Mexico City 58: Edinburgh leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Mexico City 50: Edinburgh leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh and Mexico City are level on 72.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Mexico City 40: Mexico City leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Mexico City.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghMexico City

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghMexico City
Official languageEnglishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation47 m2,240 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghMexico City
City population488,0509,209,944
People per km²1,8846,202
Museums within 10 km32108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km36
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Mexico City 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.