VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Riga?

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

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Riga for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Riga 52: Mexico City leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Riga 66: Mexico City leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Riga 52: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Riga 55: Riga leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Riga 60: Mexico City leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Riga 50: Mexico City leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Riga 68: Riga leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Riga 45: Mexico City leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Riga 62: Mexico City leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Riga 65: Mexico City leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Riga 50: Riga leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Riga.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on food and drink and shopping with your weighting.

Riga
55match

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityRiga

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). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityRiga
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaLatvian
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation2,240 m6 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityRiga
City population9,209,944588,911
People per km²6,202-
Museums within 10 km10812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
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 Riga 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.