VacationSelector
The cathedral on Plaza de Bolivar, Bogota
BogotaThe cathedral on Plaza de Bolivar
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Bogota by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Bogota 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 Bogota for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Chicago for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

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. Bogota 5, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Bogota 66, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Bogota 68, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bogota 72, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bogota 64, Chicago 48: Bogota leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Bogota 52, Chicago 42: Bogota leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Bogota 45, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Bogota 36, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Bogota 52, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Bogota 77, Chicago 33: Bogota leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bogota 64, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bogota 28, Chicago 33: Chicago leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bogota and Chicago.

Your match

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

Bogota
52match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bogota in July

17 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BogotaChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bogota: 1991-2020 normals, Bogota / Eldorado (14.1 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBogotaChicago
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2,582 m179 m
Main airportEl Dorado International Airport (BOG)13 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBogotaChicago
City population8,034,6492,746,388
People per km²5,0924,529
Museums within 10 km3044
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bogota 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.