Photos: Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Nuevo Vallarta or Santa Fe?
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
- families
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Nuevo Vallarta’s own page.
Choose Santa Fe for
- culture and sights
- shopping
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nuevo Vallarta and Santa Fe.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights and shopping 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
Santa Fe in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Santa Fe has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
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. Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Nuevo Vallarta | Santa Fe |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | - |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-6 | UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 3 m | 2,134 m |
| Main airport | Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinations | Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Nuevo Vallarta | Santa Fe |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,301 | 87,505 |
| People per km² | - | 645 |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 10 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | - |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nuevo Vallarta or Santa Fe somewhere new.