VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Victoria?

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 Victoria for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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, Victoria 28: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Victoria 50: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Victoria 42: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Victoria 30: Chicago leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Victoria 77: Victoria leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Victoria 54: Victoria leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Victoria 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Victoria 60: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Victoria 40: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Victoria 34: Victoria leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Victoria 40: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Victoria 48: Victoria leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Victoria
47match

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
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoVictoria

Where the figures come from

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoVictoria
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation179 m23 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoVictoria
City population2,746,38891,867
People per km²4,5294,711
Museums within 10 km446
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

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