VacationSelector
The Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance, Keystone
KeystoneThe Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Keystone by Rudi Riet, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Keystone or Orange 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 Keystone for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange 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. Keystone 5, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 81 points.
Food & drink. Keystone 27, Orange Beach 40: Orange Beach leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Keystone and Orange Beach are level on 7.
Nightlife. Keystone 12, Orange Beach 30: Orange Beach leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Keystone 93, Orange Beach 60: Keystone leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Keystone 55, Orange Beach 50: Keystone leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Keystone 66, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Keystone 50, Orange Beach 15: Keystone leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Keystone 22, Orange Beach 25: Orange Beach leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Keystone 12, Orange Beach 38: Orange Beach leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Keystone 22, Orange Beach 32: Orange Beach leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Keystone and Orange Beach are level on 32.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Keystone and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Keystone
34match

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

Orange Beach
Best match
41match

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.

Keystone in July

21 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KeystoneOrange Beach

Where the figures come from

Keystone's temperatures are measured 51 km from the centre, at Leadville / Stringtown.

Keystone's station stands 232 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Keystone 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. Keystone: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Leadville / Stringtown (50.8 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKeystoneOrange Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,796 m4 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)116 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKeystoneOrange Beach
City population1,3698,095
People per km²13196
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Keystone or Orange 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.