VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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. Helsinki 28, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Los Angeles 60: Helsinki leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Los Angeles 25: Helsinki leads by 61 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Los Angeles 24: Helsinki leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Los Angeles 60: Helsinki leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Helsinki
59match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiLos Angeles
Official languageFinnish, Swedish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation17 m106 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiLos Angeles
City population694,3923,898,747
People per km²3,2392,994
Museums within 10 km7439
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Helsinki 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.