VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

New Orleans or Washington DC?

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 Washington DC for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Washington DC 67: New Orleans leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Washington DC 57: New Orleans leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 21 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Washington DC 52: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Washington DC 28: New Orleans leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Washington DC 67: New Orleans leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Washington DC 26: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansWashington DC
City population383,997689,545
People per km²4233,896
Museums within 10 km1698
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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