VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Charleston or Krakow?

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
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Krakow for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Krakow’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, Krakow 9: Charleston leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Krakow 55: Charleston leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Krakow 77: Krakow leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Krakow 68: Krakow leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Krakow 62: Krakow leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Krakow 76: Krakow leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Krakow 58: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Krakow 74: Krakow leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Krakow 48: Charleston leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Krakow 72: Krakow leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Krakow 55: Krakow leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Krakow 36: Charleston leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Krakow.

Your match

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

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Krakow
Best match
58match

Wins on prices 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.

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonKrakow

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonKrakow
Official language-Polish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation6 m219 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonKrakow
City population150,227804,237
People per km²5322,459
Museums within 10 km19113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
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 Krakow 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.