VacationSelector
The junk Duk Ling in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong
Hong KongThe junk Duk Ling in Victoria Harbour
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Hong Kong by LN9267, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Hong Kong 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 Hong Kong for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Philadelphia for

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

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. Hong Kong 50, Philadelphia 36: Hong Kong leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Hong Kong 90, Philadelphia 62: Hong Kong leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Hong Kong 60, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Hong Kong 68, Philadelphia 55: Hong Kong leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hong Kong 80, Philadelphia 52: Hong Kong leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Hong Kong 68, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Hong Kong 75, Philadelphia 68: Hong Kong leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Hong Kong 97, Philadelphia 66: Hong Kong leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Hong Kong 88, Philadelphia 57: Hong Kong leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Hong Kong 27, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hong Kong 55, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hong Kong 42, Philadelphia 26: Hong Kong leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hong Kong and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Hong Kong
Best match
67match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Hong Kong in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
381 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Hong KongPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hong Kong: 1991-2020 normals, King's Park (4.4 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHong KongPhiladelphia
Official languageStandard Chinese-
CurrencyHong Kong Dollar (HKD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number999911
Elevation7 m12 m
Main airportHong Kong International Airport (HKG)25 km from centre148 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHong KongPhiladelphia
City population7,413,0701,603,797
People per km²-4,339
Museums within 10 km3954
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hong Kong or Philadelphia 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). 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.