VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Hamburg or Los Angeles?

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

  • getting around
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Los Angeles 67: Hamburg leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Los Angeles 60: Hamburg leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Los Angeles 25: Hamburg leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Los Angeles 24: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Hamburg
60match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and food and drink 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgLos Angeles
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m106 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgLos Angeles
City population1,869,4733,898,747
People per km²2,4762,994
Museums within 10 km7739
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Los Angeles 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.