VacationSelector
The beach and the bay with the mountains behind, Nuevo Vallarta
Nuevo VallartaThe beach and the bay with the mountains behind
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Nuevo Vallarta or Reykjavik?

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 Nuevo Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Nuevo Vallarta’s own page.

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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. Nuevo Vallarta 84, Reykjavik 12: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Nuevo Vallarta 40, Reykjavik 42: Reykjavik leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Nuevo Vallarta 6, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Nuevo Vallarta 16, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nuevo Vallarta 75, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Nuevo Vallarta 58, Reykjavik 35: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Nuevo Vallarta 73, Reykjavik 55: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Nuevo Vallarta 25, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Nuevo Vallarta 22, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Nuevo Vallarta 45, Reykjavik 6: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nuevo Vallarta 18, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nuevo Vallarta 55, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nuevo Vallarta and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Nuevo Vallarta
43match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness 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.

Nuevo Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
206 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Nuevo VallartaReykjavik

Where the figures come from

Nuevo Vallarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Nuevo Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNuevo VallartaReykjavik
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaIcelandic
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC
Emergency number911112
Elevation3 m8 m
Main airportPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureNuevo VallartaReykjavik
City population1,301138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km023
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nuevo Vallarta or Reykjavik somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.