VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Charleston or Riga?

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
  • families

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

Choose Riga for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Charleston leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Riga 52: Charleston leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Riga 66: Riga leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Riga 52: Riga leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston and Riga are level on 55.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Riga 60: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Riga 50: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Riga 68: Riga leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Riga 45: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Riga 62: Riga leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Riga 65: Riga leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Riga 50: Riga leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Riga.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonRiga
Official language-Latvian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation6 m6 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonRiga
City population150,227588,911
People per km²532-
Museums within 10 km1912
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston or Riga 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.