VacationSelector
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Orange Beach or Vancouver?

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
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Orange Beach leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Orange Beach 40, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Orange Beach 7, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Orange Beach 30, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orange Beach 60, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Orange Beach 50, Vancouver 45: Orange Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Orange Beach 75, Vancouver 72: Orange Beach leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Orange Beach 15, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Orange Beach 25, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Orange Beach 38, Vancouver 27: Orange Beach leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orange Beach 32, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orange Beach 32, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orange Beach and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Vancouver
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around 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.

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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Orange BeachVancouver

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). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrange BeachVancouver
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation4 m2 m
Main airportPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrange BeachVancouver
City population8,095662,248
People per km²1965,759
Museums within 10 km026
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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