VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
Playa de los Muertos below the green hills, Puerto Vallarta
Puerto VallartaPlaya de los Muertos below the green hills

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Puerto Vallarta by RL0919, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Helsinki or Puerto Vallarta?

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

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

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

Choose Puerto Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Vallarta’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, Puerto Vallarta 85: Puerto Vallarta leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Puerto Vallarta 62: Puerto Vallarta leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Puerto Vallarta 28: Helsinki leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Puerto Vallarta 66: Puerto Vallarta leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Puerto Vallarta 76: Puerto Vallarta leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Puerto Vallarta 55: Helsinki leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Puerto Vallarta 65: Helsinki leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Puerto Vallarta 45: Helsinki leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Puerto Vallarta 42: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Puerto Vallarta 60: Puerto Vallarta leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Puerto Vallarta 32: Helsinki leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Puerto Vallarta 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 Puerto Vallarta.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Puerto Vallarta
56match

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

Puerto Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
209 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiPuerto Vallarta

Where the figures come from

Puerto Vallarta 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. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Puerto Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiPuerto Vallarta
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 m101 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)5 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiPuerto Vallarta
City population694,392224,166
People per km²3,2394,311
Museums within 10 km742
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Puerto Vallarta 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.