VacationSelector
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Mazatlan or Wilmington?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Mazatlan leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Mazatlan 62, Wilmington 48: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Mazatlan 42, Wilmington 40: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Mazatlan 55, Wilmington 40: Mazatlan leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mazatlan 66, Wilmington 58: Mazatlan leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Mazatlan and Wilmington are level on 45.
Good for families. Mazatlan 60, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Mazatlan 42, Wilmington 28: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Mazatlan 30, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Mazatlan 70, Wilmington 42: Mazatlan leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mazatlan and Wilmington are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Mazatlan 35, Wilmington 33: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mazatlan and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Mazatlan
Best match
52match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on shopping and families 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MazatlanWilmington

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). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMazatlanWilmington
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation139 m9 m
Main airportGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMazatlanWilmington
City population441,975115,451
People per km²-839
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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