Cancún vs Puerto Vallarta

White resort building with palm trees, lounge chairs, and umbrellas line a sandy beach with turquoise water under clear blue sky.

Resort pool with white umbrellas and lounge chairs, palm trees, and a multi-story hotel building backed by green mountains.

Puerto Vallarta13 resorts · ★ 4.3 average

Cancún and Puerto Vallarta, side by side: live travel advisories, our resort catalog's real guest data, and each destination's honest weather picture. Everything you need to break the tie.

By the numbers

Cancún compared with Puerto Vallarta
Cancún	Measure	Puerto Vallarta
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
30 (better)	Resorts in our catalog	13
★ 4.6 (better)	Average guest rating	★ 4.3
$39–$977/night pp (better)	Nightly rates	$47–$268/night pp
12 of 30	Adults-only resorts	2 of 13
In the hurricane belt	Hurricane exposure	In the hurricane belt
Generally May–October; winter rain is still possible	Rainy season	Usually June–October, with showers and thunderstorms
December–April	Sweet spot	November–May, outside the usual rainy season
Cancún International (CUN)	Airport	Puerto Vallarta International (PVR)
Hotel Zone, Costa Mujeres / Playa Mujeres, or Isla Mujeres	Choose your base	Puerto Vallarta city or the Nayarit coast
A resort stay with beach time and options for outings	Best for	Town outings, restaurants and a beach-resort stay
Swimming and sargassum conditions vary by beach and day	Beach check	Swimming conditions vary by beach and day

Advisory levels sync from travel.state.gov; catalog figures reflect the resorts we've researched, not every hotel in the country. A marked row is one we are willing to call; rows without a mark are a matter of taste, or we have no comparable figure for both sides.

On the map

Cancún

Puerto Vallarta

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Cancún and Puerto Vallarta
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cancún · high °F	82	83	85	87	89	90	90	91	89	87	84	82
Puerto Vallarta · high °F	82	82	82	84	87	90	92	92	90	89	86	83
Cancún · rain (in)	3.5	2.0	1.5	1.5	4.0	6.5	4.0	4.5	8.5	8.5	4.0	3.5
Puerto Vallarta · rain (in)	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.5	7.0	11.0	10.5	13.5	4.0	0.8	0.5

Approximate climate normals for Cancún hotel zone and Banderas Bay: planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.