VacationSelector
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Merida or Orange Beach?

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
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Merida 72, Orange Beach 40: Merida leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Merida 64, Orange Beach 7: Merida leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Merida 42, Orange Beach 30: Merida leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Merida 48, Orange Beach 60: Orange Beach leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Merida 80, Orange Beach 50: Merida leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Merida 50, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Merida 45, Orange Beach 15: Merida leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Merida 50, Orange Beach 25: Merida leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Merida 75, Orange Beach 38: Merida leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Merida 52, Orange Beach 32: Merida leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Merida 40, Orange Beach 32: Merida leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Merida and Orange Beach.

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 prices with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MeridaOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMeridaOrange Beach
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m4 m
Main airportManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMeridaOrange Beach
City population892,3638,095
People per km²1,010196
Museums within 10 km50
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Merida or Orange Beach 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.