VacationSelector
The Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala LumpurThe Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Kuala Lumpur by Brownc, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kuala Lumpur or Panama City?

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 Kuala Lumpur for

  • food and drink
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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. Kuala Lumpur 12, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Kuala Lumpur 82, Panama City 57: Kuala Lumpur leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Kuala Lumpur 57, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Kuala Lumpur 54, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kuala Lumpur 47, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Kuala Lumpur 52, Panama City 50: Kuala Lumpur leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Kuala Lumpur 64, Panama City 45: Kuala Lumpur leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Kuala Lumpur 57, Panama City 40: Kuala Lumpur leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Kuala Lumpur 66, Panama City 52: Kuala Lumpur leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Kuala Lumpur 75, Panama City 55: Kuala Lumpur leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kuala Lumpur 42, Panama City 34: Kuala Lumpur leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kuala Lumpur 44, Panama City 22: Kuala Lumpur leads by 22 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kuala Lumpur and Panama City.

Your match

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

Kuala Lumpur
Best match
54match

Wins on food and drink and wellness with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on beaches 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.

Kuala Lumpur in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
139 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Kuala LumpurPanama City

Where the figures come from

Kuala Lumpur's temperatures are measured 46 km from the centre, at Sepang/KL International Airport.

Kuala Lumpur 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.

Panama City 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. Kuala Lumpur: 1991-2020 normals, Sepang/KL International Airport (46.1 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKuala LumpurPanama City
Official languageMalaySpanish
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number999911
Elevation50 m20 m
Main airportKuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)45 km from centre146 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureKuala LumpurPanama City
City population9,000,2801,540,000
People per km²36,9325,600
Museums within 10 km2510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kuala Lumpur or Panama City 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.