VacationSelector
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Merida or San Jose?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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

Choose San Jose for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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, San Jose 30: Merida leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Merida 72, San Jose 56: Merida leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Merida 64, San Jose 36: Merida leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Merida 42, San Jose 33: Merida leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Merida 48, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Merida 80, San Jose 78: Merida leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Merida 50, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Merida 45, San Jose 30: Merida leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Merida 50, San Jose 48: Merida leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Merida 75, San Jose 20: Merida leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Merida 52, San Jose 38: Merida leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Merida 40, San Jose 30: Merida leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Merida and San Jose.

Your match

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

Merida
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MeridaSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMeridaSan Jose
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m25 m
Main airportManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMeridaSan Jose
City population892,3631,013,240
People per km²1,0102,167
Museums within 10 km519
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Merida or San Jose 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.