VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • families

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. New Orleans 14, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Philadelphia 62: New Orleans leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Philadelphia 55: New Orleans leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Philadelphia 52: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 3 points.
Affordability. New Orleans and Philadelphia are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Philadelphia 72: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Philadelphia 26: Philadelphia leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

New Orleans
54match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansPhiladelphia
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation-2 m12 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansPhiladelphia
City population383,9971,603,797
People per km²4234,339
Museums within 10 km1654
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

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