VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Hiroshima or Washington DC?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Washington DC for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Hiroshima leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima 66, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima 62, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Hiroshima 80, Washington DC 73: Hiroshima leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Washington DC 72: Hiroshima leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima and Washington DC are level on 52.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Washington DC 28: Hiroshima leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima 38, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima 50, Washington DC 26: Hiroshima leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hiroshima and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Hiroshima
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaWashington DC
City population1,198,021689,545
People per km²1,3243,896
Museums within 10 km1898
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hiroshima or Washington DC 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.