VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

New Orleans or Portland?

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
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Portland leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Portland 68: New Orleans leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Portland 38: New Orleans leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Portland 52: New Orleans leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Portland 84: Portland leads by 42 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Portland 58: Portland leads by 6 points.
Good for families. New Orleans and Portland are level on 55.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Portland 62: Portland leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Portland 52: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Portland 38: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Portland 55: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Portland 42: Portland leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Portland.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

New Orleans
54match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansPortland
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 m152 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansPortland
City population383,997652,503
People per km²4231,736
Museums within 10 km1617
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Portland 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.