VacationSelector
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Bordeaux 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 Bordeaux for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Bordeaux and Chicago are level on 50.
Food & drink. Bordeaux 78, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Bordeaux 68, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bordeaux 50, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bordeaux 58, Chicago 48: Bordeaux leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Bordeaux 78, Chicago 42: Bordeaux leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Bordeaux 57, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Bordeaux 76, Chicago 72: Bordeaux leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Bordeaux 56, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Bordeaux 42, Chicago 33: Bordeaux leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bordeaux 55, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bordeaux 40, Chicago 33: Bordeaux leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bordeaux
59match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife 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.

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

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
BordeauxChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBordeauxChicago
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
Elevation1 m179 m
Main airportBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBordeauxChicago
City population267,9912,746,388
People per km²5,4254,529
Museums within 10 km1844
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Bordeaux 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.