VacationSelector
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Las Vegas or Philadelphia?

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 Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Las Vegas 10, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Las Vegas 68, Philadelphia 62: Las Vegas leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Las Vegas 25, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. Las Vegas 88, Philadelphia 55: Las Vegas leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Las Vegas 68, Philadelphia 52: Las Vegas leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Las Vegas 25, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 55 points.
Good for families. Las Vegas 25, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Las Vegas 38, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Las Vegas 64, Philadelphia 57: Las Vegas leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Las Vegas 35, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Las Vegas 78, Philadelphia 72: Las Vegas leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Las Vegas 40, Philadelphia 26: Las Vegas leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Las Vegas and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Las Vegas
47match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips 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.

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Las VegasPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLas VegasPhiladelphia
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
Elevation610 m12 m
Main airportHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLas VegasPhiladelphia
City population641,9031,603,797
People per km²1,8434,339
Museums within 10 km2154
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Las Vegas or Philadelphia 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.