VacationSelector
The Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta
AtlantaThe Georgia State Capitol
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Atlanta by DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Atlanta or Scottsdale?

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

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Atlanta leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Atlanta 68, Scottsdale 46: Atlanta leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Atlanta 55, Scottsdale 38: Atlanta leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Atlanta 65, Scottsdale 52: Atlanta leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Atlanta 60, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Atlanta 52, Scottsdale 50: Atlanta leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Atlanta 70, Scottsdale 60: Atlanta leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Atlanta 28, Scottsdale 20: Atlanta leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Atlanta 50, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Atlanta 40, Scottsdale 32: Atlanta leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Atlanta 62, Scottsdale 40: Atlanta leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Atlanta 33, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 39 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Atlanta and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Atlanta
Best match
49match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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
14 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AtlantaScottsdale

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.

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAtlantaScottsdale
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation225 m380 m
Main airportHartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)14 km from centre238 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAtlantaScottsdale
City population498,715241,361
People per km²1,433-
Museums within 10 km2710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Atlanta or Scottsdale 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. 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.