VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
A cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan, San Juan
San JuanA cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; San Juan by Mohan Nannapaneni, Pexels License.

Puerto Iguazu or San Juan?

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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose San Juan for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on San Juan’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. Puerto Iguazu 5, San Juan 84: San Juan leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, San Juan 66: San Juan leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, San Juan 64: San Juan leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, San Juan 70: San Juan leads by 56 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, San Juan 74: Puerto Iguazu leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, San Juan 52: San Juan leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, San Juan 58: San Juan leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, San Juan 38: Puerto Iguazu leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, San Juan 50: San Juan leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, San Juan 38: Puerto Iguazu leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, San Juan 55: San Juan leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, San Juan 40: San Juan leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and San Juan.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

San Juan
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

San Juan in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSan Juan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). San Juan: 1991-2020 normals, San Juan / Int., Puerto Rico (12.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Juan
Official languageSpanishSpanish, English
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-4
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m3 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsLuis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)12 km from centre59 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Juan
City population54,903342,259
People per km²-2,847
Museums within 10 km018
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu or San Juan 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.