VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Chicago for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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. Biarritz 68, Chicago 50: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Chicago 48: Biarritz leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Chicago 42: Biarritz leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Chicago 33: Chicago leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Chicago 33: Biarritz leads by 31 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Chicago.

Your match

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

Biarritz
54match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzChicago
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation0 m179 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzChicago
City population26,2062,746,388
People per km²2,2404,529
Museums within 10 km844
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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.