VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bergen or Panama City?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Panama City for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Panama City 74: Bergen leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Panama City 45: Bergen leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Panama City 40: Bergen leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Panama City 34: Bergen leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Panama City 22: Bergen leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Panama City.

Your match

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

Bergen
46match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on prices 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.

Bergen in July

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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
BergenPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenPanama City
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiSpanish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation5 m20 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenPanama City
City population291,1891,540,000
People per km²3,3395,600
Museums within 10 km3110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.