VacationSelector
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bucharest or Wilmington?

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 Bucharest for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Bucharest 8, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Bucharest 55, Wilmington 48: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Bucharest 58, Wilmington 40: Bucharest leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Bucharest 70, Wilmington 40: Bucharest leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bucharest 45, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bucharest 52, Wilmington 45: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Bucharest 52, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Bucharest 52, Wilmington 28: Bucharest leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Bucharest 45, Wilmington 33: Bucharest leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Bucharest 70, Wilmington 42: Bucharest leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bucharest 60, Wilmington 40: Bucharest leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bucharest 47, Wilmington 33: Bucharest leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bucharest and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Bucharest
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BucharestWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBucharestWilmington
Official languageRomanian-
CurrencyRomanian Leu (RON)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation70 m9 m
Main airportBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBucharestWilmington
City population1,716,961115,451
People per km²7,597839
Museums within 10 km412
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Bucharest or Wilmington 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.