VacationSelector
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bordeaux or Charleston?

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 Bordeaux for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Charleston for

  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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. Bordeaux 50, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Bordeaux 78, Charleston 72: Bordeaux leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Bordeaux 68, Charleston 64: Bordeaux leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bordeaux 50, Charleston 44: Bordeaux leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bordeaux 58, Charleston 55: Bordeaux leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Bordeaux 78, Charleston 62: Bordeaux leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Bordeaux 57, Charleston 60: Charleston leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bordeaux 76, Charleston 46: Bordeaux leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Bordeaux 56, Charleston 55: Bordeaux leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Bordeaux 42, Charleston 27: Bordeaux leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bordeaux 55, Charleston 42: Bordeaux leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bordeaux and Charleston are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bordeaux and Charleston.

Your match

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

Bordeaux
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bordeaux in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BordeauxCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBordeauxCharleston
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation1 m6 m
Main airportBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBordeauxCharleston
City population267,991150,227
People per km²5,425532
Museums within 10 km1819
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bordeaux or Charleston 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). 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. 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.