VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Hurghada or Merida?

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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Merida for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Merida’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. Hurghada 84, Merida 50: Hurghada leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Merida 72: Merida leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Merida 64: Merida leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Merida 42: Merida leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Merida 48: Hurghada leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Merida 80: Merida leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Merida 50: Hurghada leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Merida 45: Merida leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Merida 50: Merida leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Merida 75: Hurghada leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Merida 52: Merida leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Merida 40: Hurghada leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Merida.

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Merida
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaMerida
Official languageArabicSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation11 m12 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaMerida
City population214,247892,363
People per km²-1,010
Museums within 10 km15
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hurghada or Merida 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.