VacationSelector
Main Beach with its palms and lifeguard tower, Laguna Beach
Laguna BeachMain Beach with its palms and lifeguard tower
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Laguna Beach by Mark Stebnicki, Pexels License; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Laguna Beach or Wilmington?

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 Laguna Beach for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Laguna Beach 72, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Laguna Beach 40, Wilmington 48: Wilmington leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Laguna Beach 27, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Laguna Beach 18, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Laguna Beach 73, Wilmington 58: Laguna Beach leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Laguna Beach 72, Wilmington 45: Laguna Beach leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Laguna Beach 68, Wilmington 62: Laguna Beach leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Laguna Beach 33, Wilmington 28: Laguna Beach leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Laguna Beach 46, Wilmington 33: Laguna Beach leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Laguna Beach 12, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Laguna Beach and Wilmington are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Laguna Beach 47, Wilmington 33: Laguna Beach leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Laguna Beach and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Laguna Beach
46match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on prices 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.

Laguna Beach in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Laguna BeachWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Laguna Beach: 1981-2010 normals, Irvine (15.5 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLaguna BeachWilmington
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation6 m9 m
Main airportJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)18 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureLaguna BeachWilmington
City population23,032115,451
People per km²907839
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Laguna Beach or Wilmington 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.