VacationSelector
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
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: San Miguel de Allende by Russ Bowling, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Miguel de Allende or Zurich?

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 San Miguel de Allende for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on San Miguel de Allende’s own page.

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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. San Miguel de Allende 4, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. San Miguel de Allende 62, Zurich 53: San Miguel de Allende leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. San Miguel de Allende 62, Zurich 58: San Miguel de Allende leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. San Miguel de Allende 38, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Miguel de Allende 40, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Day trips. San Miguel de Allende 77, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 7 points.
Good for families. San Miguel de Allende 32, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 44 points.
Getting around. San Miguel de Allende 48, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. San Miguel de Allende 55, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Affordability. San Miguel de Allende 50, Zurich 3: San Miguel de Allende leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Miguel de Allende 40, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Miguel de Allende 66, Zurich 58: San Miguel de Allende leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Miguel de Allende and Zurich.

Your match

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

San Miguel de Allende
48match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
San Miguel de AllendeZurich

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. San Miguel de Allende: 1991-2020 normals, Guanajuato, Gto. (53.7 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Miguel de AllendeZurich
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,900 m408 m
Main airportGuanajuato International Airport (BJX)77 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Miguel de AllendeZurich
City population69,811440,935
People per km²-5,016
Museums within 10 km263
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Miguel de Allende or Zurich 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.