VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Myrtle Beach or Rio de Janeiro?

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 Myrtle Beach for

  • families

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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. Myrtle Beach 84, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Rio de Janeiro 68: Rio de Janeiro leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach and Rio de Janeiro are level on 50.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Rio de Janeiro 50: Myrtle Beach leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Rio de Janeiro 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Rio de Janeiro 60: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Rio de Janeiro 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on families with your weighting.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Myrtle BeachRio de Janeiro

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach 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.

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachRio de Janeiro
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation8 m31 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachRio de Janeiro
City population35,6826,211,223
People per km²5914,930
Museums within 10 km269
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Myrtle Beach or Rio de Janeiro 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.