VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guadalajara or Zagreb?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Zagreb 55: Guadalajara leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Zagreb 56: Guadalajara leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Zagreb 47: Guadalajara leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Zagreb 60: Guadalajara leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Zagreb 52: Guadalajara leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Zagreb 40: Guadalajara leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Zagreb 60: Guadalajara leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Zagreb 52: Guadalajara leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Zagreb 33: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Zagreb.

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.

Zagreb
50match

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
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraZagreb

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. Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraZagreb
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaCroatian
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,536 m127 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraZagreb
City population1,385,621767,131
People per km²9,556-
Museums within 10 km1727
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 Zagreb 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.