VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
White sand and parasols on the beach, Destin
DestinWhite sand and parasols on the beach

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Destin by #KenFL74, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Destin?

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 Chicago for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Destin for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Destin’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. Chicago 50, Destin 86: Destin leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Destin 42: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Destin 14: Chicago leads by 64 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Destin 36: Chicago leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Destin 56: Destin leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Destin 44: Destin leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Destin 72: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Destin 20: Chicago leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Destin 40: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Destin 34: Destin leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Destin 20: Chicago leads by 62 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago and Destin are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Destin.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Destin
41match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Destin in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoDestin

Where the figures come from

Destin 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Destin: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Destin (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoDestin
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m8 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsDestin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS)11 km from centre45 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoDestin
City population2,746,38813,931
People per km²4,529636
Museums within 10 km441
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Destin 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.