Photos: Playa del Carmen by lazyweaver, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.
Playa del Carmen or Rio de Janeiro?
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 Playa del Carmen for
- families
- wellness
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on Playa del Carmen’s own page.
Choose Rio de Janeiro for
- culture and sights
- live music and the arts
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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: Playa del Carmen and Rio de Janeiro.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on families and wellness with your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Playa del Carmen in July
Rio de Janeiro in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
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.
Rio de Janeiro 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. Playa del Carmen: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Rio de Janeiro |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | Portuguese |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | Brazilian Real (BRL) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | CN60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-3 |
| Emergency number | 911 | Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193 |
| Elevation | 8 m | 31 m |
| Main airport | Cancún International Airport (CUN)50 km from centre137 non-stop destinations | Rio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | 14 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Rio de Janeiro |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 304,942 | 6,211,223 |
| People per km² | - | 4,930 |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 69 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 3 |
| 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 Playa del Carmen or Rio de Janeiro somewhere new.