VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guadalajara or Medellin?

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 Guadalajara for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Medellin for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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. Guadalajara and Medellin are level on 5.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Medellin 58: Guadalajara leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Medellin 42: Guadalajara leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Medellin 58: Guadalajara leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Medellin 50: Guadalajara leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Medellin 45: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Medellin 42: Guadalajara leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Medellin 30: Guadalajara leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Medellin.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

Wins on getting around 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.

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraMedellin

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara 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.

Medellin 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraMedellin
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation1,536 m1,405 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre35 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraMedellin
City population1,385,6212,529,403
People per km²9,5566,644
Museums within 10 km1714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guadalajara or Medellin somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.