VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Lisbon 50, Philadelphia 36: Lisbon leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Philadelphia 62: Lisbon leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Philadelphia 72: Lisbon leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Philadelphia 55: Lisbon leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Philadelphia 52: Lisbon leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Philadelphia 80: Lisbon leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Lisbon and Philadelphia are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Philadelphia 57: Lisbon leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Philadelphia 40: Lisbon leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Philadelphia 26: Lisbon leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

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

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LisbonPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonPhiladelphia
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m12 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonPhiladelphia
City population545,7961,603,797
People per km²5,4534,339
Museums within 10 km8054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lisbon 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.