VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guadalajara or Rotorua?

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
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Rotorua for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Rotorua 33: Guadalajara leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Rotorua 38: Guadalajara leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Rotorua 14: Guadalajara leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Rotorua 45: Guadalajara leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Rotorua 30: Guadalajara leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Rotorua 22: Guadalajara leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Rotorua 36: Guadalajara leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Rotorua 30: Guadalajara leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 51 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Rotorua.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Rotorua
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.

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraRotorua

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.

Rotorua 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. Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraRotorua
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation1,536 m280 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraRotorua
City population1,385,62158,500
People per km²9,55622
Museums within 10 km171
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guadalajara or Rotorua 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.