VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Main Beach with its palms and lifeguard tower, Laguna Beach
Laguna BeachMain Beach with its palms and lifeguard tower

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Laguna Beach by Mark Stebnicki, Pexels License.

Chicago or Laguna Beach?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Laguna Beach for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Laguna Beach’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, Laguna Beach 72: Laguna Beach leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Laguna Beach 40: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Laguna Beach 27: Chicago leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Laguna Beach 18: Chicago leads by 59 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Laguna Beach 73: Laguna Beach leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Laguna Beach 72: Laguna Beach leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Laguna Beach 68: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Laguna Beach 33: Chicago leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Laguna Beach 46: Chicago leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Laguna Beach 12: Chicago leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Laguna Beach 40: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Laguna Beach 47: Laguna Beach leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Laguna Beach
46match

Wins on day trips 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

Laguna Beach in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoLaguna Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Laguna Beach: 1981-2010 normals, Irvine (15.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoLaguna Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m6 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)18 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoLaguna Beach
City population2,746,38823,032
People per km²4,529907
Museums within 10 km442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Laguna Beach 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.