VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Aswan or Chicago?

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 Aswan for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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. Aswan 10, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 50 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 69 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Chicago 48: Chicago leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Chicago 42: Aswan leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 46 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Chicago 33: Aswan leads by 59 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 68 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 40, Chicago 33: Aswan leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Chicago.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AswanChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanChicago
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation99 m179 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanChicago
City population401,8902,746,388
People per km²1,0724,529
Museums within 10 km344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan or Chicago 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.