VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bergen or Charleston?

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 Bergen for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Charleston for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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. Bergen 20, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Charleston 64: Charleston leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Charleston 44: Charleston leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Charleston 55: Bergen leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Charleston 62: Charleston leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Bergen and Charleston are level on 60.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Charleston 46: Bergen leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Charleston 27: Charleston leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Charleston 42: Bergen leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Charleston 40: Charleston leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Charleston.

Your match

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

Bergen
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Charleston
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenCharleston
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi-
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation5 m6 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenCharleston
City population291,189150,227
People per km²3,339532
Museums within 10 km3119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or Charleston 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.