VacationSelector
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Orange Beach or Rome?

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 Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’s own page.

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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. Orange Beach 86, Rome 50: Orange Beach leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Orange Beach 40, Rome 82: Rome leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Orange Beach 7, Rome 99: Rome leads by 92 points.
Nightlife. Orange Beach 30, Rome 58: Rome leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orange Beach 60, Rome 58: Orange Beach leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Orange Beach 50, Rome 92: Rome leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Orange Beach 75, Rome 50: Orange Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Orange Beach 15, Rome 60: Rome leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Orange Beach 25, Rome 72: Rome leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Orange Beach and Rome are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Orange Beach 32, Rome 68: Rome leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orange Beach 32, Rome 40: Rome leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orange Beach and Rome.

Your match

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

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Orange BeachRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrange BeachRome
Official language-Italian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation4 m21 m
Main airportPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrange BeachRome
City population8,0952,748,109
People per km²1962,135
Museums within 10 km0178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km07
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Orange Beach or Rome 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.