VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Hiroshima or Philadelphia?

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 Hiroshima for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Hiroshima 30, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima 66, Philadelphia 62: Hiroshima leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima 62, Philadelphia 52: Hiroshima leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Hiroshima and Philadelphia are level on 80.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Philadelphia 66: Hiroshima leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima 52, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Philadelphia 40: Hiroshima leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima 38, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima 50, Philadelphia 26: Hiroshima leads by 24 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hiroshima and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Hiroshima
56match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaPhiladelphia
Official languageJapanese-
CurrencyYen (JPY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation3 m12 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaPhiladelphia
City population1,198,0211,603,797
People per km²1,3244,339
Museums within 10 km1854
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hiroshima or Philadelphia somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.