VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Bergen or Washington DC?

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
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Bergen leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Washington DC 64: Bergen leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Washington DC 72: Bergen leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Washington DC 26: Bergen leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Washington DC.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenWashington DC
City population291,189689,545
People per km²3,3393,896
Museums within 10 km3198
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or Washington DC 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.