VacationSelector
India Gate behind its flower beds, Delhi
DelhiIndia Gate behind its flower beds
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Delhi by shalender kumar, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Delhi or Washington DC?

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 Delhi for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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. Delhi 4, Washington DC 12: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Delhi 84, Washington DC 67: Delhi leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Delhi 85, Washington DC 84: Delhi leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Delhi 44, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Delhi 20, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Delhi 68, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Delhi 32, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Delhi 55, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Delhi 78, Washington DC 52: Delhi leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Delhi 90, Washington DC 28: Delhi leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. Delhi 55, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Delhi 25, Washington DC 26: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Delhi and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Delhi
53match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Delhi in July

36 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
190 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DelhiWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Delhi: 1991-2020 normals, New Delhi / Safdarjung (9.4 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDelhiWashington DC
Official languageHindi, English-
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number108 or 112911
Elevation221 m72 m
Main airportIndira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)17 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDelhiWashington DC
City population26,495,000689,545
People per km²18,9623,896
Museums within 10 km2398
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Delhi or Washington DC 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.