VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Charleston or Paris?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Paris for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Paris’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, Paris 9: Charleston leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Paris 96: Paris leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Paris 97: Paris leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Paris 80: Paris leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Paris 52: Charleston leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Paris 92: Paris leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Paris 79: Paris leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Paris 88: Paris leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Paris 98: Paris leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Paris 25: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Paris 88: Paris leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston and Paris are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Paris.

Your match

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

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping 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

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 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
CharlestonParis

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonParis
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation6 m27 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonParis
City population150,2272,103,778
People per km²53219,960
Museums within 10 km19251
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 Paris 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.