VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Hiroshima or Oaxaca?

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 Hiroshima for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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. Hiroshima 30, Oaxaca 5: Hiroshima leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima 66, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Oaxaca 74: Oaxaca leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Oaxaca 40: Hiroshima leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima and Oaxaca are level on 62.
Day trips. Hiroshima 80, Oaxaca 65: Hiroshima leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Oaxaca 40: Hiroshima leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Oaxaca 55: Hiroshima leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima 52, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima and Oaxaca are level on 38.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima and Oaxaca are level on 50.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Hiroshima
56match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaOaxaca
Official languageJapaneseSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyYen (JPY)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation3 m1,555 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaOaxaca
City population1,198,021258,913
People per km²1,3243,028
Museums within 10 km1810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. 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.