VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hanoi by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Charleston or Hanoi?

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 Charleston for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Hanoi for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Hanoi’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. Charleston 72, Hanoi 6: Charleston leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Hanoi 85: Hanoi leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Hanoi 72: Hanoi leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Hanoi 50: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Hanoi 52: Charleston leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Hanoi 58: Charleston leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Hanoi 35: Charleston leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Hanoi 36: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Hanoi 50: Charleston leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Hanoi 98: Hanoi leads by 71 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Hanoi 40: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Hanoi 46: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Hanoi.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Hanoi
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonHanoi

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonHanoi
Official language-Vietnamese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dong (VND)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACFG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114
Elevation6 m10 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonHanoi
City population150,2278,717,600
People per km²5322,595
Museums within 10 km1914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston or Hanoi 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.