VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Rome?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Rome for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Rome 82: Mexico City leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Rome 99: Rome leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Rome 58: Mexico City leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Rome 58: Rome leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Rome 92: Rome leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Rome 50: Mexico City leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Rome 60: Rome leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Rome 72: Mexico City leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Rome 38: Mexico City leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Rome 68: Mexico City leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City and Rome 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 Rome.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Mexico City
63match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Rome
64match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

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). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityRome
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaItalian
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation2,240 m21 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityRome
City population9,209,9442,748,109
People per km²6,2022,135
Museums within 10 km108178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km67
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City or Rome 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.