VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The beach and the bay with the mountains behind, Nuevo Vallarta
Nuevo VallartaThe beach and the bay with the mountains behind

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain.

Fort Lauderdale or Nuevo Vallarta?

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

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Nuevo Vallarta for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Nuevo Vallarta’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, Nuevo Vallarta 84: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Nuevo Vallarta 40: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Nuevo Vallarta 6: Fort Lauderdale leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Nuevo Vallarta 16: Fort Lauderdale leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Nuevo Vallarta 75: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale and Nuevo Vallarta are level on 58.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Nuevo Vallarta 73: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Nuevo Vallarta 25: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Nuevo Vallarta 22: Fort Lauderdale leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Nuevo Vallarta 45: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Nuevo Vallarta 18: Fort Lauderdale leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Nuevo Vallarta 55: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Nuevo Vallarta.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Nuevo Vallarta
43match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Nuevo Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
206 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleNuevo Vallarta

Where the figures come from

Nuevo Vallarta 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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Nuevo Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleNuevo Vallarta
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-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m3 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleNuevo Vallarta
City population182,7601,301
People per km²1,829-
Museums within 10 km60
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Nuevo Vallarta 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.