VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Savannah City Hall and its golden dome, Savannah
SavannahSavannah City Hall and its golden dome

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Savannah by Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chicago or Savannah?

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 Savannah for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Savannah’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, Savannah 55: Savannah leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Savannah 58: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Savannah 68: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Savannah 52: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago and Savannah are level on 48.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Savannah 60: Savannah leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Savannah 50: Chicago leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Savannah 58: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Savannah 42: Chicago leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Savannah 35: Savannah leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Savannah 40: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Savannah.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

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

Savannah
51match

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
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Savannah in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
144 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoSavannah

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Savannah: 1991-2020 normals, Savannah Airport (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoSavannah
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m15 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsSavannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)12 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoSavannah
City population2,746,388147,780
People per km²4,529524
Museums within 10 km4419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Savannah 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.