VacationSelector
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mazatlan or Scottsdale?

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
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Mazatlan leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Mazatlan 62, Scottsdale 46: Mazatlan leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Mazatlan 42, Scottsdale 38: Mazatlan leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Mazatlan 55, Scottsdale 52: Mazatlan leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mazatlan 66, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Mazatlan 45, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Mazatlan and Scottsdale are level on 60.
Getting around. Mazatlan 42, Scottsdale 20: Mazatlan leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Mazatlan 30, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Mazatlan 70, Scottsdale 32: Mazatlan leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mazatlan and Scottsdale are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Mazatlan 35, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mazatlan and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Mazatlan
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MazatlanScottsdale

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMazatlanScottsdale
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation139 m380 m
Main airportGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre149 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMazatlanScottsdale
City population441,975241,361
Museums within 10 km310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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