VacationSelector
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake
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: Hanoi by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Hanoi 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 Hanoi for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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. Hanoi 6, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Hanoi 85, Panama City 57: Hanoi leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Hanoi 72, Panama City 62: Hanoi leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Hanoi 50, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hanoi 52, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Hanoi 58, Panama City 50: Hanoi leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Hanoi 35, Panama City 45: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Hanoi 36, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Hanoi 50, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Hanoi 98, Panama City 55: Hanoi leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hanoi 40, Panama City 34: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hanoi 46, Panama City 22: Hanoi leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hanoi and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Hanoi
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

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.

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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
HanoiPanama City

Where the figures come from

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

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. Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHanoiPanama City
Official languageVietnameseSpanish
CurrencyDong (VND)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114911
Elevation10 m20 m
Main airportNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHanoiPanama City
City population8,717,6001,540,000
People per km²2,5955,600
Museums within 10 km1410
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 Hanoi 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.