VacationSelector
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Mazatlan 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 Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Merida for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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. Mazatlan 80, Merida 50: Mazatlan leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Mazatlan 62, Merida 72: Merida leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Mazatlan 42, Merida 64: Merida leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Mazatlan 55, Merida 42: Mazatlan leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mazatlan 66, Merida 48: Mazatlan leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Mazatlan 45, Merida 80: Merida leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Mazatlan 60, Merida 50: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Mazatlan 42, Merida 45: Merida leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Mazatlan 30, Merida 50: Merida leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Mazatlan 70, Merida 75: Merida leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mazatlan 40, Merida 52: Merida leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mazatlan 35, Merida 40: Merida leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Mazatlan
52match

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

Merida
Best match
56match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MazatlanMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMazatlanMerida
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation139 m12 m
Main airportGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureMazatlanMerida
City population441,975892,363
People per km²-1,010
Museums within 10 km35
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 Mazatlan 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.