VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

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

Chicago or Zagreb?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Zagreb 55: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Zagreb 56: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Zagreb 47: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Zagreb 52: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Zagreb 70: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Zagreb 40: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Zagreb 52: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago and Zagreb are level on 33.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoZagreb
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 m127 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoZagreb
City population2,746,388767,131
People per km²4,529-
Museums within 10 km4427
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 Zagreb 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.