VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Frauenkirche towers and the Mariensäule, Munich
MunichThe Frauenkirche towers and the Mariensäule

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Munich by 0xd1ma, Pexels License.

Los Angeles or Munich?

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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Munich for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Munich’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. Los Angeles 60, Munich 28: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Munich 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Munich 79: Munich leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Munich 56: Los Angeles leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Munich 82: Munich leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Munich 86: Munich leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Munich 78: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Munich 86: Munich leads by 61 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Munich 72: Los Angeles leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Munich 32: Munich leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Munich 84: Munich leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Munich 62: Munich leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Munich.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Munich
Best match
67match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Munich in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesMunich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Munich: 1991-2020 normals, München (1.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesMunich
Official language-German
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m519 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsMunich Airport (MUC)29 km from centre210 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesMunich
City population3,898,7471,505,036
People per km²2,9944,844
Museums within 10 km3974
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles or Munich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.