VacationSelector
Skiers at the Albion base of the ski area, Alta, Utah
Alta, UtahSkiers at the Albion base of the ski area
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Alta, Utah by Sumanch, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alta, Utah or Orange Beach?

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 Alta, Utah for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Alta, Utah’s own page.

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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. Alta, Utah 3, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. Alta, Utah 15, Orange Beach 40: Orange Beach leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Alta, Utah 5, Orange Beach 7: Orange Beach leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Alta, Utah 4, Orange Beach 30: Orange Beach leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alta, Utah 90, Orange Beach 60: Alta, Utah leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Alta, Utah 40, Orange Beach 50: Orange Beach leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Alta, Utah 30, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 45 points.
Getting around. Alta, Utah 35, Orange Beach 15: Alta, Utah leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Alta, Utah 4, Orange Beach 25: Orange Beach leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Alta, Utah 15, Orange Beach 38: Orange Beach leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alta, Utah 3, Orange Beach 32: Orange Beach leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alta, Utah 35, Orange Beach 32: Alta, Utah leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alta, Utah and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Alta, Utah
23match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Orange Beach
Best match
41match

Wins on beaches 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.

Alta, Utah in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Alta, UtahOrange Beach

Where the figures come from

Alta, Utah 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. Alta, Utah: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km. Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlta, UtahOrange Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,610 m4 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)37 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlta, UtahOrange Beach
City population2288,095
People per km²19196
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alta, Utah or Orange Beach somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.