VacationSelector
Skiers at the Albion base of the ski area, Alta, Utah
Alta, UtahSkiers at the Albion base of the ski area
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Alta, Utah by Sumanch, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Alta, Utah or Philadelphia?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Alta, Utah 15, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 47 points.
Culture & sights. Alta, Utah 5, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 67 points.
Nightlife. Alta, Utah 4, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 51 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alta, Utah 90, Philadelphia 52: Alta, Utah leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Alta, Utah 40, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Alta, Utah 30, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Alta, Utah 35, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Alta, Utah 4, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 53 points.
Affordability. Alta, Utah 15, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alta, Utah 3, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 69 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alta, Utah 35, Philadelphia 26: Alta, Utah leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alta, Utah and Philadelphia.

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 wellness with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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 recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Alta, UtahPhiladelphia

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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlta, UtahPhiladelphia
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,610 m12 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)37 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlta, UtahPhiladelphia
City population2281,603,797
People per km²194,339
Museums within 10 km054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alta, Utah or Philadelphia 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. 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.