Costa del Sol vs Riviera Maya

Ikos Andalusia's outdoor bar terrace features woven pendant lamps, bar seating, and tall palm trees with pink flowering plants in foreground.

Aerial view of Barceló Maya Palace resort showing blue pool complex, palm-lined grounds, beachfront buildings, and Caribbean Sea.

Costa del Sol and Riviera Maya, 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

Costa del Sol compared with Riviera Maya
Costa del Sol	Measure	Riviera Maya
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
6	Resorts in our catalog	39 (better)
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.6 (better)
$67–$526/night pp	Nightly rates	$41–$635/night pp (better)
0 of 6	Adults-only resorts	12 of 39
No hurricane season (better)	Hurricane exposure	In the hurricane belt
November–March	Rainy season	June–October, heaviest September–October
June and September; July–August is hottest and busiest	Sweet spot	December–April
Málaga (AGP), most resorts 20–60 min west along the coast	Airport	Cancún (CUN); transfers run 25–90 min depending how far south
Sun with Andalusia attached; day trips to Granada, Seville and Ronda	Best for	Cenotes + ruins + beach in one trip; low-rise seclusion

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

Costa del Sol

Riviera Maya

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Costa del Sol and Riviera Maya
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Costa del Sol · high °F	63	64	67	70	75	81	86	86	82	75	68	64
Riviera Maya · high °F	82	83	85	87	89	90	90	91	89	87	84	82
Costa del Sol · rain (in)	2.7	2.3	1.9	1.6	0.8	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.9	2.2	3.7	3.9
Riviera Maya · 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

Approximate climate normals for Málaga and Playa del Carmen–Tulum: planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.