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 the old town, San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel de AllendeA cobbled street of painted houses in the old town

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; San Miguel de Allende by Russ Bowling, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu or San Miguel de Allende?

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
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose San Miguel de Allende for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on San Miguel de Allende’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 Miguel de Allende 4: Puerto Iguazu leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, San Miguel de Allende 62: San Miguel de Allende leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, San Miguel de Allende 62: San Miguel de Allende leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, San Miguel de Allende 38: San Miguel de Allende leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, San Miguel de Allende 40: Puerto Iguazu leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, San Miguel de Allende 77: San Miguel de Allende leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, San Miguel de Allende 32: Puerto Iguazu leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, San Miguel de Allende 48: Puerto Iguazu leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, San Miguel de Allende 55: San Miguel de Allende leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, San Miguel de Allende 50: San Miguel de Allende leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, San Miguel de Allende 40: San Miguel de Allende leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, San Miguel de Allende 66: San Miguel de Allende leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and San Miguel de Allende.

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 families with your weighting.

San Miguel de Allende
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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
11 hdaylight a day

San Miguel de Allende in July

29 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
132 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSan Miguel de Allende

Where the figures come from

San Miguel de Allende's temperatures are measured 54 km from the centre, at Guanajuato, Gto..

San Miguel de Allende 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. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). San Miguel de Allende: 1991-2020 normals, Guanajuato, Gto. (53.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Miguel de Allende
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-6
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m1,900 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsGuanajuato International Airport (BJX)77 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Miguel de Allende
City population54,90369,811
Museums within 10 km02
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu or San Miguel de Allende 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.