VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Puerto Princesa?

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
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Puerto Princesa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Princesa’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, Puerto Princesa 58: Puerto Princesa leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Puerto Princesa 38: Mexico City leads by 52 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Puerto Princesa 22: Mexico City leads by 66 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Puerto Princesa 26: Mexico City leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Puerto Princesa 80: Puerto Princesa leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Puerto Princesa 12: Mexico City leads by 63 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Puerto Princesa 45: Mexico City leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Puerto Princesa 30: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Puerto Princesa 20: Mexico City leads by 56 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Puerto Princesa 78: Puerto Princesa leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Puerto Princesa 10: Mexico City leads by 62 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City and Puerto Princesa are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Puerto Princesa.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Puerto Princesa
38match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Puerto Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityPuerto Princesa

Where the figures come from

Puerto Princesa has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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). Puerto Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityPuerto Princesa
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,240 m98 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityPuerto Princesa
City population9,209,944316,384
People per km²6,202133
Museums within 10 km1081
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City or Puerto Princesa 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.