VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Split?

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
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Split for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Split 57: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Split 66: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Split 52: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Split 77: Split leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Split 78: Split leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Split 54: Chicago leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Split 67: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Split 32: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Split 45: Split leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Split 37: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Split 40: Split leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

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 shopping with your weighting.

Split
57match

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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoSplit

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoSplit
Official language-Croatian
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 m0 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoSplit
City population2,746,388160,577
People per km²4,529-
Museums within 10 km4411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

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