VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Maastricht?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Maastricht for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Maastricht’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, Maastricht 8: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Maastricht 58: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Maastricht 60: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Maastricht 42: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Maastricht 58: Maastricht leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Maastricht 77: Maastricht leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Maastricht 55: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Maastricht 74: Maastricht leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Maastricht 60: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Maastricht 38: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Maastricht 40: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Maastricht 52: Maastricht leads by 19 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Maastricht
52match

Wins on day trips and wellness 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

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoMaastricht

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoMaastricht
Official language-Dutch
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m49 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoMaastricht
City population2,746,388120,227
People per km²4,5292,000
Museums within 10 km4421
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
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 Maastricht 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.