VacationSelector
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mazatlan or Zurich?

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
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Mazatlan leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Mazatlan 62, Zurich 53: Mazatlan leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Mazatlan 42, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Mazatlan 55, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mazatlan 66, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Mazatlan 45, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Mazatlan 60, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Mazatlan 42, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Mazatlan 30, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Mazatlan 70, Zurich 3: Mazatlan leads by 67 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mazatlan 40, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mazatlan 35, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 23 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MazatlanZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMazatlanZurich
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation139 m408 m
Main airportGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMazatlanZurich
City population441,975440,935
People per km²-5,016
Museums within 10 km363
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 Zurich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.