VacationSelector
The cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, Milan
MilanThe cathedral from Piazza del Duomo
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Milan by Jiuguang Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Milan 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 Milan for

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

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. Milan 20, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Milan 78, Philadelphia 62: Milan leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Milan 78, Philadelphia 72: Milan leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Milan 66, Philadelphia 55: Milan leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Milan 65, Philadelphia 52: Milan leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Milan 91, Philadelphia 80: Milan leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Milan 55, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Milan 79, Philadelphia 66: Milan leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Milan 92, Philadelphia 57: Milan leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Milan 33, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Milan 82, Philadelphia 72: Milan leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Milan 42, Philadelphia 26: Milan leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Milan and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Milan
Best match
65match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Milan in July

30 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MilanPhiladelphia

Where the figures come from

Milan 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.

Milan's sunshine is measured 41 km from the centre, at Novara / Cameri.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Milano / Linate (8 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMilanPhiladelphia
Official languageItalian-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation138 m12 m
Main airportMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre208 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMilanPhiladelphia
City population1,354,1961,603,797
People per km²7,4534,339
Museums within 10 km8854
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Milan 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.