VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guadalajara or Wilmington?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Wilmington 48: Guadalajara leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Wilmington 40: Guadalajara leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Wilmington 40: Guadalajara leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Wilmington 45: Guadalajara leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Wilmington 28: Guadalajara leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Wilmington 33: Guadalajara leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Wilmington 42: Guadalajara leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Wilmington 40: Guadalajara leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Wilmington 33: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and families 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraWilmington

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. Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre68 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraWilmington
City population1,385,621115,451
People per km²9,556839
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guadalajara or Wilmington 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.