VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

New York or Panama City?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • getting around

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

Choose Panama City for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: New York leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Panama City 57: New York leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Panama City 62: New York leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Panama City 62: New York leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 19 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Panama City 50: New York leads by 18 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Panama City 45: New York leads by 25 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Panama City 40: New York leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Panama City 52: New York leads by 45 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Panama City 34: New York leads by 65 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Panama City 22: New York leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and Panama City.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
New YorkPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkPanama City
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation25 m20 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkPanama City
City population8,804,1901,540,000
People per km²7,2565,600
Museums within 10 km15710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New York or Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.