VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
Painted wooden houses under palms in Key West, Key West
Key WestPainted wooden houses under palms in Key West

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Key West by Dominik Gryzbon, Pexels License.

Hamburg or Key West?

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 Hamburg for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Key West for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Key West’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. Hamburg 28, Key West 60: Key West leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Key West 45: Hamburg leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Key West 40: Hamburg leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Key West 62: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Key West 62: Key West leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Key West 28: Hamburg leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Key West 40: Hamburg leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Key West 62: Hamburg leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Key West 30: Hamburg leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Key West 15: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Key West 38: Hamburg leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Key West 40: Hamburg leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Key West.

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Key West
44match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Key West in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgKey West

Where the figures come from

Key West's temperatures are measured 69 km from the centre, at Key West Airport.

Key West 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. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Key West: 1991-2020 normals, Key West Airport (69.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgKey West
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m4 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsKey West International Airport (EYW)2 km from centre24 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgKey West
City population1,869,47326,444
People per km²2,4761,407
Museums within 10 km777
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Key West 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.