VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Tampa?

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
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Tampa 57: Mexico City leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Tampa 42: Mexico City leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Tampa 52: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Tampa 54: Mexico City leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Tampa 22: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Tampa 40: Mexico City leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Tampa 40: Mexico City leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Tampa 47: Mexico City leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Tampa 30: Mexico City 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 Tampa.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityTampa

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). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityTampa
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,240 m30 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityTampa
City population9,209,944384,959
People per km²6,202848
Museums within 10 km1086
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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