VacationSelector
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Oaxaca or Philadelphia?

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 Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Oaxaca 5, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Oaxaca 84, Philadelphia 62: Oaxaca leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Oaxaca 74, Philadelphia 72: Oaxaca leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Oaxaca 40, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oaxaca 62, Philadelphia 52: Oaxaca leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Oaxaca 65, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Oaxaca 40, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Oaxaca 55, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Oaxaca 62, Philadelphia 57: Oaxaca leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Oaxaca 77, Philadelphia 40: Oaxaca leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oaxaca 38, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oaxaca 50, Philadelphia 26: Oaxaca leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oaxaca and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
OaxacaPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOaxacaPhiladelphia
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
Elevation1,555 m12 m
Main airportXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureOaxacaPhiladelphia
City population258,9131,603,797
People per km²3,0284,339
Museums within 10 km1054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oaxaca or Philadelphia 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. 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.