VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Los Angeles or Paris?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Paris for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Paris’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, Paris 9: Los Angeles leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Paris 96: Paris leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Paris 97: Paris leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Paris 80: Paris leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Paris 52: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Paris 92: Paris leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Paris 79: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Paris 88: Paris leads by 63 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Paris 98: Paris leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Paris 25: Paris leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Paris 88: Paris leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Paris 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Paris.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
64match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesParis

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesParis
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m27 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesParis
City population3,898,7472,103,778
People per km²2,99419,960
Museums within 10 km39251
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
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 Paris 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.