VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Guadalajara or Philadelphia?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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 5, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Philadelphia 62: Guadalajara leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Philadelphia 55: Guadalajara leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Philadelphia 52: Guadalajara leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Philadelphia 57: Guadalajara leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Philadelphia 40: Guadalajara leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Philadelphia 26: Guadalajara leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraPhiladelphia

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.

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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraPhiladelphia
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,536 m12 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraPhiladelphia
City population1,385,6211,603,797
People per km²9,5564,339
Museums within 10 km1754
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

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