Photos: Ho Chi Minh City by trungydang, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Playa del Carmen by lazyweaver, CC BY 3.0, cropped.
Ho Chi Minh City or Playa del Carmen?
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 Ho Chi Minh City for
- culture and sights
- prices
- food and drink
What lies behind each score is written up on Ho Chi Minh City’s own page.
Choose Playa del Carmen for
- beaches
- nature and the outdoors
- families
What lies behind each score is written up on Playa del Carmen’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ho Chi Minh City and Playa del Carmen.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.
Wins on beaches 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.
Ho Chi Minh City in July
Playa del Carmen in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Ho Chi Minh City 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.
Playa del Carmen 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. Ho Chi Minh City: 1991-2020 normals, Ho Chi Minh (6 km from centre). Playa del Carmen: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Ho Chi Minh City | Playa del Carmen |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Vietnamese | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya |
| Currency | Dong (VND) | Mexican Peso (MXN) |
| Sockets | ACFG220 V, 50 Hz | AB127 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+7 | UTC-5 |
| Emergency number | Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114 | 911 |
| Elevation | 13 m | 8 m |
| Main airport | Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)7 km from centre90 non-stop destinations | Cancún International Airport (CUN)50 km from centre137 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | - | 9 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Ho Chi Minh City | Playa del Carmen |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 14,002,598 | 304,942 |
| People per km² | 2,068 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ho Chi Minh City or Playa del Carmen somewhere new.