Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tulum by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.
Gold Coast or Tulum?
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 Gold Coast for
- families
- getting around
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Gold Coast’s own page.
Choose Tulum for
- wellness
- day trips
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Tulum’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Tulum.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, level with your weighting
Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.
Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Gold Coast in July
Tulum in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.
Tulum 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. Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre). Tulum: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Gold Coast | Tulum |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya |
| Currency | Australian Dollar (AUD) | Mexican Peso (MXN) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | AB127 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+10 | UTC-5 |
| Emergency number | 000 | 911 |
| Elevation | 12 m | 5 m |
| Main airport | Gold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinations | Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport Tulum (TQO)21 km from centre11 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 9 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Gold Coast | Tulum |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 607,665 | 33,374 |
| People per km² | 433 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 2 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gold Coast or Tulum somewhere new.