VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
Rocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay, Huatulco
HuatulcoRocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Huatulco by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Helsinki or Huatulco?

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 Helsinki for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Huatulco for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Huatulco’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. Helsinki 28, Huatulco 86: Huatulco leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Huatulco 44: Helsinki leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Huatulco 15: Helsinki leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Huatulco 24: Helsinki leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Huatulco 76: Huatulco leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Huatulco 40: Helsinki leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Huatulco 56: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Huatulco 33: Helsinki leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Huatulco 20: Helsinki leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Huatulco 62: Huatulco leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Huatulco 9: Helsinki leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Huatulco 52: Helsinki leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Huatulco.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Huatulco
43match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Huatulco in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
156 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiHuatulco

Where the figures come from

Huatulco's temperatures are measured 42 km from the centre, at Puerto Angel, Oax..

Huatulco's station stands 177 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Huatulco has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Huatulco: 1991-2020 normals, Puerto Angel, Oax. (42.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiHuatulco
Official languageFinnish, SwedishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation17 m220 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsBahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiHuatulco
City population694,3927,409
People per km²3,239-
Museums within 10 km740
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Helsinki or Huatulco somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.