VacationSelector
The Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance, Keystone
KeystoneThe Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Keystone by Rudi Riet, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Keystone 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 Keystone for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Portland for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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. Keystone 5, Portland 20: Portland leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Keystone 27, Portland 68: Portland leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Keystone 7, Portland 38: Portland leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Keystone 12, Portland 52: Portland leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Keystone 93, Portland 84: Keystone leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Keystone 55, Portland 58: Portland leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Keystone 66, Portland 55: Keystone leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Keystone 50, Portland 62: Portland leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Keystone 22, Portland 52: Portland leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Keystone 12, Portland 38: Portland leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Keystone 22, Portland 55: Portland leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Keystone 32, Portland 42: Portland leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Keystone and Portland.

Your match

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

Keystone
34match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Portland
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife 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
15 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
KeystonePortland

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). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKeystonePortland
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,796 m152 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)116 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKeystonePortland
City population1,369652,503
People per km²131,736
Museums within 10 km017
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Keystone 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. 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.