VacationSelector
The Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance, Keystone
KeystoneThe Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Keystone by Rudi Riet, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Keystone or Seattle?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Seattle for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Keystone 27, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Keystone 7, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Keystone 12, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Keystone 93, Seattle 87: Keystone leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Keystone and Seattle are level on 55.
Good for families. Keystone 66, Seattle 64: Keystone leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Keystone 50, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Keystone 22, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Keystone 12, Seattle 22: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Keystone 22, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Keystone 32, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Keystone and Seattle.

Your match

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

Keystone
34match

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

Seattle
Best match
54match

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.

Keystone in July

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
KeystoneSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKeystoneSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)116 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureKeystoneSeattle
City population1,369737,015
People per km²131,996
Museums within 10 km027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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