VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bergen or Orange Beach?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Orange Beach 40: Bergen leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Orange Beach 7: Bergen leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Orange Beach 30: Bergen leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Orange Beach 60: Bergen leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Orange Beach 50: Orange Beach leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Orange Beach 15: Bergen leads by 59 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Orange Beach 25: Bergen leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Orange Beach 38: Orange Beach leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Orange Beach 32: Bergen leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen and Orange Beach are level on 32.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Bergen
Best match
46match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

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.

Bergen in July

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenOrange Beach
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-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation5 m4 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenOrange Beach
City population291,1898,095
People per km²3,339196
Museums within 10 km310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or Orange Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.