VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Quito?

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

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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 and Quito are level on 5.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Quito 54: Mexico City leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Quito 77: Mexico City leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Quito 40: Mexico City leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Quito 86: Quito leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Quito 55: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Quito 32: Mexico City leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Quito 45: Mexico City leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Quito 40: Mexico City leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Quito 78: Quito leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Quito 38: Mexico City leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Quito 44: Quito 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 Quito.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness 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
13 hdaylight a day

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityQuito
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,240 m2,850 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityQuito
City population9,209,9441,763,275
People per km²6,2024,735
Museums within 10 km10816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km62

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City or Quito 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.