VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
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: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala 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 Antigua Guatemala for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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. Antigua Guatemala 6, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Panama City 62: Antigua Guatemala leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Panama City 74: Antigua Guatemala leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Panama City 50: Antigua Guatemala leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Panama City 45: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Panama City 40: Antigua Guatemala leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Panama City 55: Antigua Guatemala leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Panama City 34: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Panama City 22: Antigua Guatemala leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Panama City.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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.

Antigua Guatemala in July

25 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 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

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaPanama City

Where the figures come from

Antigua Guatemala 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.

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. Antigua Guatemala: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Guatemala Aeropuertola Aurora (23.5 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaPanama City
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123911
Elevation1,582 m20 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaPanama City
City population59,0911,540,000
People per km²-5,600
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.