VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Krakow for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Chicago 50, Krakow 9: Chicago leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Krakow 55: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Krakow 77: Chicago leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Krakow 68: Chicago leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Krakow 62: Krakow leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Krakow 76: Krakow leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Krakow 58: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Krakow 74: Krakow leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Krakow 48: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Krakow 72: Krakow leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Krakow 55: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Krakow 36: Krakow leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

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

Krakow
58match

Wins on prices 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
21 °Csea
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoKrakow

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoKrakow
Official language-Polish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m219 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoKrakow
City population2,746,388804,237
People per km²4,5292,459
Museums within 10 km44113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago 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.