VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Barcelona 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 Barcelona for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • families

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. Barcelona 75, Chicago 50: Barcelona leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Chicago 80: Barcelona leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Chicago 78: Barcelona leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Chicago 77: Barcelona leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Chicago 48: Barcelona leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Chicago 42: Barcelona leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Chicago 72: Barcelona leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Chicago 70: Barcelona leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Chicago 33: Barcelona leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Chicago 33: Barcelona leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

Chicago
62match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaChicago
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation9 m179 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaChicago
City population1,731,6492,746,388
People per km²17,0944,529
Museums within 10 km9544
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.