VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Chicago or Lisbon?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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 and Lisbon are level on 50.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Lisbon 75: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago and Lisbon are level on 78.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Lisbon 75: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Lisbon 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Lisbon 66: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Lisbon 60: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Lisbon 60: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Lisbon 36: Lisbon leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
62match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

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
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoLisbon
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m100 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoLisbon
City population2,746,388545,796
People per km²4,5295,453
Museums within 10 km4480
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Lisbon 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.