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

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

Mazatlan or Santa Monica?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Mazatlan 62, Santa Monica 60: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Mazatlan 42, Santa Monica 35: Mazatlan leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Mazatlan 55, Santa Monica 38: Mazatlan leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mazatlan 66, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Mazatlan 45, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Mazatlan 60, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Mazatlan 42, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Mazatlan 30, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Mazatlan 70, Santa Monica 14: Mazatlan leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mazatlan 40, Santa Monica 38: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mazatlan 35, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on shopping 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.

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

Santa Monica in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MazatlanSanta Monica

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). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMazatlanSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation139 m32 m
Main airportGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMazatlanSanta Monica
City population441,97593,076
People per km²-4,270
Museums within 10 km319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mazatlan or Santa Monica 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.