VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Malaga 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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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. Malaga 77, Philadelphia 36: Malaga leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Philadelphia 62: Malaga leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Philadelphia 55: Malaga leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Philadelphia 52: Malaga leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Philadelphia 80: Malaga leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Philadelphia 68: Malaga leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Philadelphia 66: Malaga leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Philadelphia 40: Malaga leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga 42, Philadelphia 26: Malaga leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Malaga
Best match
64match

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

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 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
MalagaPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaPhiladelphia
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation18 m12 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaPhiladelphia
City population599,0631,603,797
People per km²1,5174,339
Museums within 10 km3254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Malaga 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.