VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Helsinki or Myrtle 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 Helsinki for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Myrtle Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Myrtle 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. Helsinki 28, Myrtle Beach 84: Myrtle Beach leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Myrtle Beach 38: Helsinki leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Myrtle Beach 20: Helsinki leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Myrtle Beach 42: Helsinki leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Myrtle Beach 46: Helsinki leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Myrtle Beach 50: Helsinki leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Myrtle Beach 80: Myrtle Beach leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Myrtle Beach 18: Helsinki leads by 68 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Myrtle Beach 38: Helsinki leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Myrtle Beach 52: Myrtle Beach leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Myrtle Beach 30: Helsinki leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Myrtle Beach 28: Helsinki leads by 54 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Myrtle Beach.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiMyrtle Beach

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach 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. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiMyrtle Beach
Official languageFinnish, Swedish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation17 m8 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiMyrtle Beach
City population694,39235,682
People per km²3,239591
Museums within 10 km742
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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