VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Bangkok or Philadelphia?

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 Bangkok for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Bangkok 12, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Philadelphia 62: Bangkok leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Philadelphia 72: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Philadelphia 55: Bangkok leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Philadelphia 52: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Philadelphia 57: Bangkok leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Philadelphia 40: Bangkok leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Philadelphia 26: Bangkok leads by 49 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokPhiladelphia
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation2 m12 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokPhiladelphia
City population5,676,6481,603,797
People per km²3,6194,339
Museums within 10 km5954
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok or Philadelphia 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.