VacationSelector
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Portland for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

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. Las Vegas 10, Portland 20: Portland leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Las Vegas and Portland are level on 68.
Culture & sights. Las Vegas 25, Portland 38: Portland leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Las Vegas 88, Portland 52: Las Vegas leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Las Vegas 68, Portland 84: Portland leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Las Vegas 25, Portland 58: Portland leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Las Vegas 25, Portland 55: Portland leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Las Vegas 38, Portland 62: Portland leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Las Vegas 64, Portland 52: Las Vegas leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Las Vegas 35, Portland 38: Portland leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Las Vegas 78, Portland 55: Las Vegas leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Las Vegas 40, Portland 42: Portland leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Las Vegas
47match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Portland
Best match
52match

Wins on day trips and families 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
14 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

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Las VegasPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLas VegasPortland
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation610 m152 m
Main airportHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLas VegasPortland
City population641,903652,503
People per km²1,8431,736
Museums within 10 km2117
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 Las Vegas 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.