VacationSelector
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Hanoi by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Hanoi or Medellin?

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 Hanoi for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Medellin for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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. Hanoi 6, Medellin 5: Hanoi leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Hanoi 85, Medellin 58: Hanoi leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Hanoi 72, Medellin 42: Hanoi leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Hanoi 50, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hanoi 52, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Hanoi and Medellin are level on 58.
Good for families. Hanoi 35, Medellin 50: Medellin leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Hanoi 36, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Hanoi 50, Medellin 45: Hanoi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Hanoi 98, Medellin 80: Hanoi leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hanoi 40, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hanoi 46, Medellin 30: Hanoi leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hanoi and Medellin.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Hanoi
52match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HanoiMedellin

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

Medellin 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. Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHanoiMedellin
Official languageVietnameseSpanish
CurrencyDong (VND)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114123
Elevation10 m1,405 m
Main airportNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureHanoiMedellin
City population8,717,6002,529,403
People per km²2,5956,644
Museums within 10 km1414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hanoi or Medellin 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.