VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Brussels or New Orleans?

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 Brussels for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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. Brussels 18, New Orleans 14: Brussels leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, New Orleans 67: Brussels leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, New Orleans 42: Brussels leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, New Orleans 52: Brussels leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, New Orleans 55: Brussels leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, New Orleans 55: Brussels leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, New Orleans 54: Brussels leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Brussels and New Orleans are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, New Orleans 25: Brussels leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and New Orleans.

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

New Orleans
54match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsNew Orleans

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsNew Orleans
Official languageFrench, German, Dutch-
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
Elevation70 m-2 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsNew Orleans
City population195,546383,997
People per km²5,908423
Museums within 10 km10616
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km100
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Brussels or New Orleans 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.