Photos: Cardiff by Tevfik Teker, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.
Cardiff or Chicago?
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 Cardiff for
- day trips
- nature and the outdoors
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Cardiff’s own page.
Choose Chicago for
- food and drink
- nightlife
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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: Cardiff and Chicago.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.
Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Cardiff in July
Chicago in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Cardiff 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.
Cardiff's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Lyneham.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cardiff: 1991-2020 normals, Cardiff-Wales Airport (14.9 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Cardiff | Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | - |
| Currency | Pound Sterling (GBP) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 999 | 911 |
| Elevation | 41 m | 179 m |
| Main airport | Cardiff International Airport (CWL)15 km from centre30 non-stop destinations | Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 8 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cardiff | Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 383,536 | 2,746,388 |
| People per km² | 2,734 | 4,529 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 44 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | 1 month |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cardiff or Chicago somewhere new.