VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Chicago or Valletta?

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 Valletta for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Valletta 55: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Valletta 76: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Valletta 46: Chicago leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Valletta 56: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Valletta 58: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Valletta 62: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Valletta 38: Chicago leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Valletta 44: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Valletta 32: Chicago leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Valletta
55match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoValletta
Official language-English, Maltese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m56 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoValletta
City population2,746,3885,197
People per km²4,5296,496
Museums within 10 km4416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Valletta 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.