VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Montevideo?

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 Mexico City for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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. Mexico City 5, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Montevideo 57: Mexico City leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Montevideo 54: Mexico City leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Montevideo 50: Mexico City leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Montevideo 34: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Montevideo 55: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Montevideo 55: Mexico City leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Montevideo 54: Montevideo leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Montevideo 36: Mexico City leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Montevideo 42: Mexico City leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Montevideo 57: Mexico City leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Montevideo 38: Mexico City leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Montevideo.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityMontevideo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityMontevideo
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-3
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,240 m41 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityMontevideo
City population9,209,9441,302,954
People per km²6,2021,785
Museums within 10 km10836
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City or Montevideo 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.