VacationSelector
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Merida or Split?

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
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Split for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Merida 72, Split 57: Merida leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Merida 64, Split 66: Split leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Merida 42, Split 52: Split leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Merida 48, Split 77: Split leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Merida 80, Split 78: Merida leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Merida 50, Split 54: Split leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Merida 45, Split 67: Split leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Merida 50, Split 32: Merida leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Merida 75, Split 45: Merida leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Merida 52, Split 37: Merida leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Merida and Split are level on 40.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Merida
56match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Split
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MeridaSplit

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMeridaSplit
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaCroatian
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation12 m0 m
Main airportManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMeridaSplit
City population892,363160,577
People per km²1,010-
Museums within 10 km511
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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