VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
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: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Panama City for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Panama City 44: Fort Lauderdale leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Panama City 50: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Panama City 45: Fort Lauderdale leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale and Panama City are level on 52.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Panama City 34: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Panama City 22: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdalePanama City

Where the figures come from

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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdalePanama City
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m20 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdalePanama City
City population182,7601,540,000
People per km²1,8295,600
Museums within 10 km610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale 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.