VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Guadalajara or Quito?

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

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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 Quito are level on 5.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Quito 54: Guadalajara leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Quito 77: Quito leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Quito 40: Guadalajara leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Quito 86: Quito leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Quito 55: Guadalajara leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Quito 32: Guadalajara leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Quito 45: Quito leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Quito 40: Guadalajara leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara and Quito are level on 78.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Quito 38: Guadalajara leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Quito 44: Quito leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Quito.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraQuito

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.

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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. Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraQuito
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,536 m2,850 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraQuito
City population1,385,6211,763,275
People per km²9,5564,735
Museums within 10 km1716
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

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