Photos: Playa del Carmen by lazyweaver, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Ubud by Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.
Playa del Carmen or Ubud?
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
- nightlife
- beaches
- getting around
What lies behind each score is written up on Playa del Carmen’s own page.
Choose Ubud for
- culture and sights
- wellness
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Ubud’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 Ubud.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, level with your weighting
Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights and wellness 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
Ubud 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.
Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.
Ubud's station stands 209 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Ubud 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. Playa del Carmen: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Ubud |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya | Indonesian |
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | Rupiah (IDR) |
| Sockets | AB127 V, 60 Hz | CF50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC+8 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 112 |
| Elevation | 8 m | 210 m |
| Main airport | Cancún International Airport (CUN)50 km from centre137 non-stop destinations | Denpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre64 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 9 days | - |
By the numbers
| Measure | Playa del Carmen | Ubud |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 304,942 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 14 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| 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 Ubud somewhere new.