VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Chicago or Valencia?

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 Valencia for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Valencia 74: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Valencia 68: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Valencia 66: Chicago leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Valencia 75: Chicago leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Valencia 57: Chicago leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Valencia 55: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Valencia 42: Valencia leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
62match

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

Valencia
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoValencia
Official language-Spanish
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 m15 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoValencia
City population2,746,388840,792
People per km²4,5296,242
Museums within 10 km4445
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Valencia 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.