VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Hamburg or Orange Beach?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Orange Beach 40: Hamburg leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Orange Beach 7: Hamburg leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Orange Beach 30: Hamburg leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Orange Beach 60: Orange Beach leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Orange Beach 50: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Orange Beach 15: Hamburg leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Orange Beach 25: Hamburg leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Hamburg and Orange Beach are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Orange Beach 32: Hamburg leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Orange Beach 32: Hamburg leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

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

Orange Beach
41match

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgOrange Beach
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m4 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgOrange Beach
City population1,869,4738,095
People per km²2,476196
Museums within 10 km770
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Orange Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.