VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

London or Washington DC?

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 London for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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. London 25, Washington DC 12: London leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Washington DC 67: London leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Washington DC 84: London leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Washington DC 57: London leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Day trips. London 90, Washington DC 73: London leads by 17 points.
Good for families. London 82, Washington DC 73: London leads by 9 points.
Getting around. London 85, Washington DC 72: London leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Washington DC 52: London leads by 43 points.
Affordability. London 15, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Washington DC 67: London leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Washington DC 26: London leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Washington DC.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on prices 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.

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LondonWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonWashington DC
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation4 m72 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonWashington DC
City population8,799,728689,545
People per km²5,5983,896
Museums within 10 km21698
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London or Washington DC 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.