VacationSelector
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo
The beach and the bay with the mountains behind, Nuevo Vallarta
Nuevo VallartaThe beach and the bay with the mountains behind

Photos: Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain.

Merida or Nuevo Vallarta?

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 Merida for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Nuevo Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Nuevo Vallarta’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. Merida 50, Nuevo Vallarta 84: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Merida 72, Nuevo Vallarta 40: Merida leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Merida 64, Nuevo Vallarta 6: Merida leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Merida 42, Nuevo Vallarta 16: Merida leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Merida 48, Nuevo Vallarta 75: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Merida 80, Nuevo Vallarta 58: Merida leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Merida 50, Nuevo Vallarta 73: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Merida 45, Nuevo Vallarta 25: Merida leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Merida 50, Nuevo Vallarta 22: Merida leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Merida 75, Nuevo Vallarta 45: Merida leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Merida 52, Nuevo Vallarta 18: Merida leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Merida 40, Nuevo Vallarta 55: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Merida and Nuevo Vallarta.

Your match

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

Merida
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Nuevo Vallarta
43match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Nuevo Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
206 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MeridaNuevo Vallarta

Where the figures come from

Nuevo Vallarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre). Nuevo Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMeridaNuevo Vallarta
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m3 m
Main airportManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureMeridaNuevo Vallarta
City population892,3631,301
People per km²1,010-
Museums within 10 km50
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Merida or Nuevo Vallarta 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.