VacationSelector
The skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind, Anchorage
AnchorageThe skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Anchorage by Frank K., CC BY 2.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Anchorage or Panama City?

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 Anchorage for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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. Anchorage 8, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Anchorage 40, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Anchorage 35, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Anchorage 30, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Anchorage 93, Panama City 74: Anchorage leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Anchorage 33, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Anchorage 55, Panama City 45: Anchorage leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Anchorage 22, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Anchorage 28, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Anchorage 28, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Anchorage and Panama City are level on 34.
Wellness & relaxation. Anchorage 32, Panama City 22: Anchorage leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Anchorage and Panama City.

Your match

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

Anchorage
37match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Anchorage in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
AnchoragePanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Anchorage: 1991-2020 normals, Anchorage Air Force Base (7 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnchoragePanama City
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-9, UTC-8 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation31 m20 m
Main airportTed Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)7 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnchoragePanama City
City population291,2471,540,000
People per km²585,600
Museums within 10 km510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Anchorage or Panama City 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.