VacationSelector
The 1933 courthouse in downtown Fort Myers, now an arts centre, Fort Myers
Fort MyersThe 1933 courthouse in downtown Fort Myers, now an arts centre
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Fort Myers by Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Fort Myers or Valparaiso?

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 Myers for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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 Myers 77, Valparaiso 36: Fort Myers leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Fort Myers 40, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Myers 32, Valparaiso 62: Valparaiso leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Fort Myers 32, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Myers 63, Valparaiso 60: Fort Myers leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Fort Myers 50, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Fort Myers 62, Valparaiso 33: Fort Myers leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Fort Myers 15, Valparaiso 44: Valparaiso leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Myers 38, Valparaiso 30: Fort Myers leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Fort Myers 38, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Myers 36, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Myers 35, Valparaiso 18: Fort Myers leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Myers and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Fort Myers
43match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Valparaiso
Best match
46match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fort Myers in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
220 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort MyersValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Fort Myers 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.

Valparaiso 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 Myers: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Myers / Page Park (4.5 km from centre). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort MyersValparaiso
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation3 m21 m
Main airportSouthwest Florida International Airport (RSW)12 km from centre79 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort MyersValparaiso
City population86,395296,655
People per km²6816,180
Museums within 10 km317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C10 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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