VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
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: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Hamburg 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 Hamburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Hamburg 28, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg and Panama City are level on 62.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Panama City 62: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Panama City 50: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Panama City 45: Hamburg leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Panama City 40: Hamburg leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Panama City 52: Hamburg leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Panama City 34: Hamburg leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Panama City 22: Hamburg leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Panama City.

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

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
HamburgPanama City

Where the figures come from

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. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgPanama City
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m20 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgPanama City
City population1,869,4731,540,000
People per km²2,4765,600
Museums within 10 km7710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Panama City 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. 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.