VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Malaga 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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Malaga’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. Malaga 77, Oaxaca 5: Malaga leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Oaxaca 74: Oaxaca leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Oaxaca 40: Malaga leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Oaxaca 62: Malaga leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Oaxaca 65: Malaga leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Oaxaca 40: Malaga leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Oaxaca 55: Malaga leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Oaxaca 38: Malaga leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga 42, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Malaga
Best match
64match

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.

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MalagaOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaOaxaca
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation18 m1,555 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaOaxaca
City population599,063258,913
People per km²1,5173,028
Museums within 10 km3210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Malaga or Oaxaca 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.