VacationSelector
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Mendoza or Petra?

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 Mendoza for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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. Mendoza 6, Petra 5: Mendoza leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Mendoza 68, Petra 22: Mendoza leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Mendoza 30, Petra 85: Petra leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Mendoza 40, Petra 5: Mendoza leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mendoza 83, Petra 78: Mendoza leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Mendoza 52, Petra 30: Mendoza leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Mendoza 42, Petra 25: Mendoza leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Mendoza 48, Petra 25: Mendoza leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Mendoza 33, Petra 18: Mendoza leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Mendoza 56, Petra 45: Mendoza leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mendoza 33, Petra 10: Mendoza leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mendoza 55, Petra 28: Mendoza leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mendoza and Petra.

Your match

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

Mendoza
Best match
46match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on 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.

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

01020304050JFMAMJJASOND
MendozaPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMendozaPetra
Official languageSpanishArabic
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+3
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation769 m850 m
Main airportGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMendozaPetra
City population127,160-
People per km²2,355-
Museums within 10 km12
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mendoza or Petra 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.