VacationSelector
A lifeguard stand on South Beach, Miami
MiamiA lifeguard stand on South Beach
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

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

Miami 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 for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • 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 90, Scottsdale 8: Miami leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Miami 72, Scottsdale 46: Miami leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Miami 57, Scottsdale 38: Miami leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Miami 82, Scottsdale 52: Miami leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Miami 64, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Miami 42, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Miami 64, Scottsdale 60: Miami leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Miami 35, Scottsdale 20: Miami leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Miami 71, Scottsdale 60: Miami leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Miami 27, Scottsdale 32: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Miami 55, Scottsdale 40: Miami leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Miami 44, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Miami and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Miami
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness 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.

Miami 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
MiamiScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Miami: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (10 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMiamiScottsdale
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
Elevation2 m380 m
Main airportMiami International Airport (MIA)7 km from centre198 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMiamiScottsdale
City population442,241241,361
People per km²3,046-
Museums within 10 km1710
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 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.