VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Mexico City or Tokyo?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Tokyo leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Tokyo 84: Mexico City leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Tokyo 68: Tokyo leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Tokyo 48: Mexico City leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Tokyo.

Your match

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

Mexico City
63match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on getting around 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityTokyo

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityTokyo
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaJapanese
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation2,240 m6 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityTokyo
City population9,209,94414,264,798
People per km²6,2026,501
Museums within 10 km108192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City or Tokyo 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.