VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Windhoek?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Chicago leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Windhoek 36: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Windhoek 30: Chicago leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Windhoek 25: Chicago leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Windhoek 52: Windhoek leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Windhoek 14: Chicago leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Windhoek 30: Chicago leads by 48 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Windhoek 22: Chicago leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Windhoek 30: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Windhoek 18: Chicago leads by 64 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Windhoek 30: Chicago leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices 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
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoWindhoek
Official language-English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m1,650 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoWindhoek
City population2,746,388486,169
People per km²4,52995
Museums within 10 km445
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

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