VacationSelector
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Denver or Wilmington?

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 Denver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Denver 5, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Denver 54, Wilmington 48: Denver leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Denver 44, Wilmington 40: Denver leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Denver 47, Wilmington 40: Denver leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, Wilmington 58: Denver leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, Wilmington 45: Denver leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, Wilmington 62: Denver leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, Wilmington 28: Denver leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, Wilmington 33: Denver leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, Wilmington 40: Denver leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver 40, Wilmington 33: Denver leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Denver and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Denver
Best match
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DenverWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDenverWilmington
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,609 m9 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDenverWilmington
City population715,522115,451
People per km²1,783839
Museums within 10 km262
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Denver or Wilmington 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.