VacationSelector
Huntington Beach Pier on a summer day, Huntington Beach
Huntington BeachHuntington Beach Pier on a summer day
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Huntington Beach by Stephen Leonardi, Pexels License; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Huntington Beach or Portland?

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 Huntington Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Portland for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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. Huntington Beach 70, Portland 20: Huntington Beach leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Huntington Beach 46, Portland 68: Portland leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Huntington Beach 14, Portland 38: Portland leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Huntington Beach 38, Portland 52: Portland leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Huntington Beach 58, Portland 84: Portland leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Huntington Beach 63, Portland 58: Huntington Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Huntington Beach 82, Portland 55: Huntington Beach leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Huntington Beach 20, Portland 62: Portland leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Huntington Beach 42, Portland 52: Portland leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Huntington Beach 28, Portland 38: Portland leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Huntington Beach 33, Portland 55: Portland leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Huntington Beach 36, Portland 42: Portland leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Huntington Beach and Portland.

Your match

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

Huntington Beach
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Portland
Best match
52match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Huntington Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Huntington BeachPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Huntington Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (12.3 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHuntington BeachPortland
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m152 m
Main airportJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)12 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHuntington BeachPortland
City population198,711652,503
People per km²2,4061,736
Museums within 10 km317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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