VacationSelector
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo
Rice terraces and palms at Tegallalang, Ubud
UbudRice terraces and palms at Tegallalang

Photos: Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Ubud by Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Merida or Ubud?

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

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Ubud for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Ubud’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, Ubud 38: Merida leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Merida 72, Ubud 60: Merida leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Merida 64, Ubud 58: Merida leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Merida 42, Ubud 15: Merida leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Merida 48, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Merida 80, Ubud 72: Merida leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Merida 50, Ubud 48: Merida leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Merida 45, Ubud 10: Merida leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Merida 50, Ubud 52: Ubud leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Merida 75, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Merida 52, Ubud 47: Merida leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Merida 40, Ubud 96: Ubud leads by 56 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Merida and Ubud.

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 getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Ubud
55match

Wins on wellness 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

Ubud in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
110 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MeridaUbud

Where the figures come from

Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.

Ubud's station stands 209 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Ubud 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. Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre). Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMeridaUbud
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaIndonesian
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911112
Elevation12 m210 m
Main airportManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsDenpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMeridaUbud
City population892,363-
People per km²1,010-
Museums within 10 km514
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 Ubud 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.