VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Quito?

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

  • families
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Quito for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Quito 54: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Quito 77: Chicago leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Quito 40: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Quito 86: Quito leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Quito 55: Quito leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Quito 32: Chicago leads by 46 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Quito 45: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Quito 40: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Quito 78: Quito leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Quito 38: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Quito 44: Quito leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Quito.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on prices 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoQuito
Official language-Spanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m2,850 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoQuito
City population2,746,3881,763,275
People per km²4,5294,735
Museums within 10 km4416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Quito 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.