VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Hobart below kunanyi/Mount Wellington, Hobart
HobartHobart below kunanyi/Mount Wellington

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Hobart by Gary Houston, CC0.

Chicago or Hobart?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Hobart for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Hobart’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, Hobart 30: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Hobart 60: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Hobart 56: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Hobart 30: Chicago leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Hobart 85: Hobart leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Hobart 60: Hobart leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Hobart 56: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Hobart 45: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Hobart 38: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Hobart 35: Hobart leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Hobart 45: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Hobart 40: Hobart leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Hobart.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Hobart
48match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Hobart in July

13 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
13 °Csea
9 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoHobart

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Hobart: 1991-2020 normals, Hobart (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoHobart
Official language-English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number911000
Elevation179 m54 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsHobart International Airport (HBA)17 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoHobart
City population2,746,388197,451
People per km²4,529116
Museums within 10 km448
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Hobart 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.