Buenos Aires or Washington DC?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on value for money and good for families with your weighting.
Wins on sights concentration and places to eat with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Buenos Aires leads by 15 points.15
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 33 | 18 |
| Swim season months | 4 | 3 |
| Beaches 10 km | 0 | 1 |
| Coast distance | 2 km | 34 km |
| Water distance | 2 km | 34 km |
Places to eat. Washington DC leads by 10 points.10
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 77 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,197 | 1,666 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 26 | 36 |
Museums & heritage. Buenos Aires leads by 11 points.11
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 66 | 55 |
| Museums within 10 km | 148 | 83 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 71 | 55 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 48 | 66 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
Nightlife. Buenos Aires leads by 7 points.7
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 61 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 1,295 | 1,029 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 777 | 593 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 60 | 58 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 160 | 54 |
Nature & day trips. Buenos Aires leads by 1 points.1
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 42 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 9 | 10 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 1 | 1 |
| Land share of disc % | 67 | 94 |
| Park area within 2 km | 69 hectares | 96 hectares |
Good for families. Buenos Aires leads by 31 points.31
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 69 | 38 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 49 | 7 |
| Park area within 2 km | 69 hectares | 96 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 6 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Washington DC leads by 16 points.16
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 76 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 125 | 305 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Buenos Aires leads by 39 points.39
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82 | 43 |
| Price level global | 45.8 | 100 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Buenos Aires leads by 13 points.13
| Buenos Aires | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75 | 62 |
| Monthly daytime high | 14.7 °C to 28.5 °C | 7 °C to 31.7 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 50 mm to 135 mm | 65 mm to 108 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Buenos Aires: 1991-2020 normals, Aeroparque Bs. As. Aerodrome (4.9 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Buenos Aires | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 10 h 40 m no fares EZE · 28 km | 1 h 5 m €233-271 DCA · 5 km |
| Sao PauloGRU, VCP, CGH, RTE | 2 h 40 m €283-314 EZE · 28 km | 9 h 40 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
| MiamiMIA, OPF | 9 h 5 m no fares EZE · 28 km | 2 h 25 m €187-272 1 stop DCA · 5 km |
| AtlantaATL, PDK | 10 h 10 m no fares EZE · 28 km | 1 h 40 m €267-307 1 stop DCA · 5 km |
| MadridMAD | 12 h 30 m €961-982 EZE · 28 km | 7 h 50 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
| TorontoYYZ, YHM, YTZ | 11 h 15 m no fares EZE · 28 km | 1 h 20 m €158-333 IAD · 37 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 13 h 45 m €1,147-1238 2 stops EZE · 28 km | 7 h 35 m €507-561 1 stop IAD · 37 km |
| DallasDFW, DAL, AFW | 10 h 40 m no fares EZE · 28 km | 2 h 55 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 13 h 45 m €1,021-1169 1 stop EZE · 28 km | 9 h 10 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 16 h 45 m €1,481-1680 EZE · 28 km | 14 h 0 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Buenos Aires | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | – |
| Currency | Argentine Peso (ARS) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | CI220 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-3 | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 117 or 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 25 m | 72 m |
| Main airport | Ezeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (EZE)28 km from centre53 non-stop destinations | Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre103 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 16 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Buenos Aires | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 3,121,707 | 689,545 |
| People per km² | 15,355 | 3,896 |
| Museums within 10 km | 75 | 99 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 55 | 82 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 4 months | 3 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Buenos Aires or Washington DC somewhere new.