VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Santa Claus Village in winter, Rovaniemi
RovaniemiSanta Claus Village in winter

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

Chicago or Rovaniemi?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Rovaniemi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Rovaniemi’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, Rovaniemi 10: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Rovaniemi 25: Chicago leads by 55 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Rovaniemi 22: Chicago leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Rovaniemi 15: Chicago leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Rovaniemi 78: Rovaniemi leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Rovaniemi 8: Chicago leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Rovaniemi 72: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Rovaniemi 36: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Rovaniemi 18: Chicago leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Rovaniemi 18: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Rovaniemi 22: Chicago leads by 60 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Rovaniemi 60: Rovaniemi leads by 27 points.
0255075100

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

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Rovaniemi
32match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Rovaniemi in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
No seasea
22 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoRovaniemi

Where the figures come from

Rovaniemi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Rovaniemi: 2008-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rovaniemi Rautatieasema / Kuusela (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoRovaniemi
Official language-Finnish, Swedish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m88 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsRovaniemi Airport (RVN)8 km from centre44 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoRovaniemi
City population2,746,38865,329
People per km²4,5299
Museums within 10 km446
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Rovaniemi 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.