Photos: Banff by bryan pascual, Pexels License; La Romana by Edgar El, CC BY 3.0, cropped.
Banff or La Romana?
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 Banff for
- nature and the outdoors
- getting around
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Banff’s own page.
Choose La Romana for
- beaches
- prices
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on La Romana’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Banff and La Romana.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.
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.
Banff in July
La Romana in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
La Romana's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Punta Cana.
La Romana 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. Banff: 1991-2020 normals, Banff (2 km from centre). La Romana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (65.4 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Banff | La Romana |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French, English | Spanish |
| Currency | Canadian Dollar (CAD) | Dominican Peso (DOP) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB110 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer | UTC-4 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 1,400 m | 10 m |
| Main airport | Calgary International Airport (YYC)109 km from centre102 non-stop destinations | Casa De Campo International Airport (LRM)7 km from centre13 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Banff | La Romana |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 8,305 | 139,238 |
| People per km² | 1,730 | 512 |
| Museums within 10 km | 4 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| 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 Banff or La Romana somewhere new.