VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Newport 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 Mexico City for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport 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. Mexico City 5, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Newport Beach 50: Mexico City leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Newport Beach 20: Mexico City leads by 68 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Newport Beach 33: Mexico City leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Newport Beach 66: Newport Beach leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Newport Beach 70: Mexico City leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Newport Beach 20: Mexico City leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Newport Beach 62: Mexico City leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Newport Beach 15: Mexico City leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Newport Beach 46: Mexico City leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Newport Beach 44: Newport Beach leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Newport Beach
48match

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.

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

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityNewport Beach

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). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityNewport Beach
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
Elevation2,240 m3 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityNewport Beach
City population9,209,94485,239
People per km²6,202622
Museums within 10 km1084
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City or Newport 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.