VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • 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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Mazatlan 80: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Mazatlan 55: Mazatlan leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Mazatlan 66: Mazatlan leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Mazatlan 45: Fort Lauderdale leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Mazatlan 60: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Mazatlan 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Mazatlan 40: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Mazatlan 35: Fort Lauderdale leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale 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

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

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.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleMazatlan
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m139 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleMazatlan
City population182,760441,975
People per km²1,829-
Museums within 10 km63
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 Fort Lauderdale 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.