Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Playa del Carmen by lazyweaver, CC BY 3.0, cropped.
Panama City or Playa del Carmen?
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 Panama City for
- culture and sights
- shopping
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’s own page.
Choose Playa del Carmen for
- beaches
- families
- wellness
What lies behind each score is written up on Playa del Carmen’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: Panama City and Playa del Carmen.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.
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.
Panama City in July
Playa del Carmen in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Panama City 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.
Playa del Carmen 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. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Playa del Carmen: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Panama City | Playa del Carmen |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya |
| Currency | Balboa (PAB) | Mexican Peso (MXN) |
| Sockets | AB110 V, 60 Hz | AB127 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-5 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 20 m | 8 m |
| Main airport | Tocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations | Cancún International Airport (CUN)50 km from centre137 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 14 days | 9 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Panama City | Playa del Carmen |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,540,000 | 304,942 |
| People per km² | 5,600 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 10 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Panama City or Playa del Carmen somewhere new.