VacationSelector
A purple lifeguard tower on South Beach, Miami Beach
Miami BeachA purple lifeguard tower on South Beach
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Miami Beach by Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Miami Beach or Scottsdale?

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 Miami Beach for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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. Miami Beach 92, Scottsdale 8: Miami Beach leads by 84 points.
Food & drink. Miami Beach 62, Scottsdale 46: Miami Beach leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Miami Beach 52, Scottsdale 38: Miami Beach leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Miami Beach 80, Scottsdale 52: Miami Beach leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Miami Beach 52, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Miami Beach 55, Scottsdale 50: Miami Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Miami Beach and Scottsdale are level on 60.
Getting around. Miami Beach 58, Scottsdale 20: Miami Beach leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Miami Beach 55, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Miami Beach 20, Scottsdale 32: Scottsdale leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Miami Beach 55, Scottsdale 40: Miami Beach leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Miami Beach 48, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Miami Beach and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Miami Beach
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness 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.

Miami Beach in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Miami BeachScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Miami Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (18.8 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMiami BeachScottsdale
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation1 m380 m
Main airportMiami International Airport (MIA)16 km from centre198 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre149 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMiami BeachScottsdale
City population82,890241,361
People per km²2,109-
Museums within 10 km1410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Miami Beach or Scottsdale 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.