VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
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: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. Cairo 10, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Panama City 57: Cairo leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Panama City 62: Cairo leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Panama City 50: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Panama City 45: Panama City leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Panama City 52: Cairo leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Panama City 55: Cairo leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Panama City 34: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Panama City 22: Panama City leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Cairo
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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.

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

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
CairoPanama 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. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoPanama City
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation23 m20 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoPanama City
City population9,801,5361,540,000
People per km²18,5645,600
Museums within 10 km4810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Cairo 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). 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.