VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles or Mazatlan?

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 Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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. Los Angeles 60, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Mazatlan 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Mazatlan 42: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Mazatlan 55: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Mazatlan 66: Los Angeles leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Mazatlan 45: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Mazatlan 60: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Mazatlan 30: Los Angeles leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Mazatlan 40: Los Angeles leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Mazatlan 35: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesMazatlan
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation106 m139 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesMazatlan
City population3,898,747441,975
People per km²2,994-
Museums within 10 km393
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 Los Angeles or Mazatlan 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.