VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Merida for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. Los Angeles 60, Merida 50: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Merida 72: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Merida 64: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Merida 42: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Merida 48: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Merida 80: Merida leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Merida 50: Los Angeles leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Merida 45: Merida leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Merida 50: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Merida 75: Merida leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Merida 52: Los Angeles leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Merida 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Merida.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

Merida
56match

Wins on prices 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.

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

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
Los AngelesMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesMerida
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-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation106 m12 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesMerida
City population3,898,747892,363
People per km²2,9941,010
Museums within 10 km395
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 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). 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.