VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

New Orleans or Newport Beach?

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 New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport Beach’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. New Orleans 14, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Newport Beach 50: New Orleans leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Newport Beach 20: New Orleans leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Newport Beach 33: New Orleans leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Newport Beach 66: Newport Beach leads by 24 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 18 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Newport Beach 20: New Orleans leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Newport Beach 62: Newport Beach leads by 8 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Newport Beach 15: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Newport Beach 46: New Orleans leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Newport Beach 44: Newport Beach leads by 19 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

New Orleans
Best match
54match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Newport Beach
48match

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.

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansNewport Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansNewport Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation-2 m3 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansNewport Beach
City population383,99785,239
People per km²423622
Museums within 10 km164
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New Orleans or Newport Beach 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.