VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Panama City?

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 Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Panama City for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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. Edinburgh 22, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Panama City 62: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Panama City 74: Edinburgh leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Panama City 50: Edinburgh leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Panama City 45: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Panama City 40: Edinburgh leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Panama City 34: Edinburgh leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Panama City 22: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Panama City.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghPanama City

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghPanama City
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation47 m20 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghPanama City
City population488,0501,540,000
People per km²1,8845,600
Museums within 10 km3210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Panama City 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.