VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Brussels or Panama City?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Panama City 57: Brussels leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Panama City 62: Brussels leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Panama City 50: Brussels leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Panama City 45: Brussels leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Panama City 40: Brussels leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Panama City 52: Brussels leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Panama City 34: Brussels leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Panama City 22: Brussels leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and Panama City.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsPanama City
Official languageFrench, German, DutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation70 m20 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsPanama City
City population195,5461,540,000
People per km²5,9085,600
Museums within 10 km10610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km102
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Brussels or Panama City 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.