VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Medellin or Panama City?

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 Medellin for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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. Medellin 5, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Panama City 57: Medellin leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Panama City 62: Medellin leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Panama City 50: Medellin leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Panama City 45: Medellin leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Panama City 40: Medellin leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Panama City 55: Medellin leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Panama City 34: Medellin leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Panama City 22: Medellin leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Medellin and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on beaches 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.

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinPanama City

Where the figures come from

Medellin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinPanama City
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5
Emergency number123911
Elevation1,405 m20 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinPanama City
City population2,529,4031,540,000
People per km²6,6445,600
Museums within 10 km1410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Medellin or Panama City 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.