Photos: Playa del Carmen by lazyweaver, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
Playa del Carmen or Rotorua?
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
- beaches
- nightlife
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on Playa del Carmen’s own page.
Choose Rotorua for
- wellness
- culture and sights
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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 Rotorua.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on wellness and culture and sights 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
Rotorua 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.
Rotorua 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. Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Rotorua |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | I230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 111 |
| Elevation | 8 m | 280 m |
| Main airport | Cancún International Airport (CUN)50 km from centre137 non-stop destinations | Rotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Rotorua |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 304,942 | 58,500 |
| People per km² | - | 22 |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 1 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Playa del Carmen or Rotorua somewhere new.