VacationSelector
The Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta
AtlantaThe Georgia State Capitol
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: Atlanta by DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Atlanta 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 Atlanta for

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

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Atlanta 10, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Atlanta 68, Panama City 57: Atlanta leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Atlanta 55, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Atlanta 65, Panama City 62: Atlanta leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Atlanta 60, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Atlanta 52, Panama City 50: Atlanta leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Atlanta 70, Panama City 45: Atlanta leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Atlanta 28, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Atlanta 50, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Atlanta 40, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Atlanta 62, Panama City 34: Atlanta leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Atlanta 33, Panama City 22: Atlanta leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Atlanta and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Atlanta
49match

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

Panama City
50match

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.

Atlanta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
120 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 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
AtlantaPanama City

Where the figures come from

Atlanta 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. Atlanta: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Atlanta / Carroll Heights (12.5 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAtlantaPanama City
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation225 m20 m
Main airportHartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)14 km from centre238 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAtlantaPanama City
City population498,7151,540,000
People per km²1,4335,600
Museums within 10 km2710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Atlanta 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). 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. 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.

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.