VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cairo or Charleston?

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 Cairo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Charleston for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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. Cairo 10, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Charleston 64: Cairo leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Charleston 44: Cairo leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Charleston 62: Cairo leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Charleston 60: Charleston leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Charleston 46: Charleston leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Charleston 55: Cairo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Charleston 27: Cairo leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Charleston 42: Cairo leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Charleston 40: Charleston leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Charleston.

Your match

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

Cairo
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Charleston
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CairoCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoCharleston
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation23 m6 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoCharleston
City population9,801,536150,227
People per km²18,564532
Museums within 10 km4819
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Cairo or Charleston 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). 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.