Photos: Cairns by Donaldytong, Public domain; Vail by DReifGalaxyM31, CC BY 3.0, cropped.
Cairns or Vail?
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 Cairns for
- beaches
- prices
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Cairns’s own page.
Choose Vail for
- live music and the arts
- getting around
- shopping
What lies behind each score is written up on Vail’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairns and Vail.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Cairns in July
Vail in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Cairns's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Green Island Aws.
Cairns 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.
Vail's temperatures are measured 47 km from the centre, at Kremmling.
Vail's station stands 186 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Vail 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. Cairns: 1993-2010 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Green Island Aws (27 km from centre). Vail: 2006-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kremmling (46.5 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Cairns | Vail |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | - |
| Currency | Australian Dollar (AUD) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+10 | UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer |
| Emergency number | 000 | 911 |
| Elevation | 7 m | 2,445 m |
| Main airport | Cairns International Airport (CNS)6 km from centre32 non-stop destinations | Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE)48 km from centre16 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cairns | Vail |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 146,778 | 4,835 |
| People per km² | 301 | 400 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 1 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| 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 Cairns or Vail somewhere new.