VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Charleston?

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 Adelaide for

  • live music and the arts
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Charleston for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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. Adelaide 68, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide and Charleston are level on 72.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Charleston 64: Charleston leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Charleston 44: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Charleston 55: Adelaide leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Charleston 62: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Charleston 60: Adelaide leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Charleston 46: Adelaide leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Charleston 27: Adelaide leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Charleston 42: Adelaide leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Charleston 40: Adelaide leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Charleston.

Your match

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

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and prices with your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideCharleston
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation1 m6 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideCharleston
City population1,387,290150,227
People per km²1,071532
Museums within 10 km1319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Charleston 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.