Photos: Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tulum by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.
Rotorua or Tulum?
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 Rotorua for
- live music and the arts
- nature and the outdoors
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’s own page.
Choose Tulum for
- beaches
- nightlife
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on Tulum’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: Rotorua and Tulum.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.
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.
Rotorua in July
Tulum in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
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.
Tulum 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. Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Tulum: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Rotorua | Tulum |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori | Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya |
| Currency | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) | Mexican Peso (MXN) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | AB127 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer | UTC-5 |
| Emergency number | 111 | 911 |
| Elevation | 280 m | 5 m |
| Main airport | Rotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations | Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport Tulum (TQO)21 km from centre11 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 9 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Rotorua | Tulum |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 58,500 | 33,374 |
| People per km² | 22 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotorua or Tulum somewhere new.