VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

New York or Orange 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 York for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange 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 York 50, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Orange Beach 40: New York leads by 52 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Orange Beach 7: New York leads by 82 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Orange Beach 30: New York leads by 67 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Orange Beach 60: Orange Beach leads by 5 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Orange Beach 50: New York leads by 18 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 5 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Orange Beach 15: New York leads by 67 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Orange Beach 25: New York leads by 72 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Orange Beach 38: Orange Beach leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Orange Beach 32: New York leads by 67 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Orange Beach 32: New York leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
New YorkOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkOrange Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation25 m4 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkOrange Beach
City population8,804,1908,095
People per km²7,256196
Museums within 10 km1570
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New York or Orange 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.