VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
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: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Ghent 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 Ghent for

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

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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. Ghent 25, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Panama City 57: Ghent leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Panama City 62: Ghent leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Panama City 50: Ghent leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Panama City 45: Ghent leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Panama City 40: Ghent leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Panama City 34: Ghent leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Panama City 22: Ghent leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ghent and Panama City.

Your match

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

Ghent
Best match
54match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 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
GhentPanama City

Where the figures come from

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

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. Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentPanama City
Official languageFrench, German, DutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation12 m20 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentPanama City
City population272,6571,540,000
People per km²1,7285,600
Museums within 10 km3010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
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 Ghent or Panama City somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.