VacationSelector
The skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind, Anchorage
AnchorageThe skyline across the water with the Chugach Mountains behind
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh

Photos: Anchorage by Frank K., CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Anchorage or Sharm el-Sheikh?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’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, Sharm el-Sheikh 87: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Anchorage 40, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Anchorage leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Anchorage 35, Sharm el-Sheikh 12: Anchorage leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Anchorage 30, Sharm el-Sheikh 42: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Anchorage 93, Sharm el-Sheikh 82: Anchorage leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Anchorage 33, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Anchorage leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Anchorage 55, Sharm el-Sheikh 62: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Anchorage and Sharm el-Sheikh are level on 22.
Shopping & style. Anchorage 28, Sharm el-Sheikh 25: Anchorage leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Anchorage 28, Sharm el-Sheikh 74: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Anchorage 34, Sharm el-Sheikh 10: Anchorage leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Anchorage 32, Sharm el-Sheikh 50: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Anchorage and Sharm el-Sheikh.

Your match

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

Anchorage
37match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sharm el-Sheikh
Best match
44match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AnchorageSharm el-Sheikh

Where the figures come from

Sharm el-Sheikh 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. Anchorage: 1991-2020 normals, Anchorage Air Force Base (7 km from centre). Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAnchorageSharm el-Sheikh
Official language-Arabic
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-9, UTC-8 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation31 m1 m
Main airportTed Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)7 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnchorageSharm el-Sheikh
City population291,24773,000
People per km²58-
Museums within 10 km51
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Sharm el-Sheikh 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.