VacationSelector
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Orange Beach 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 Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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. Orange Beach 86, Washington DC 12: Orange Beach leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Orange Beach 40, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Orange Beach 7, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 77 points.
Nightlife. Orange Beach 30, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orange Beach 60, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Orange Beach 50, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Orange Beach 75, Washington DC 73: Orange Beach leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Orange Beach 15, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Orange Beach 25, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Orange Beach 38, Washington DC 28: Orange Beach leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orange Beach 32, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orange Beach 32, Washington DC 26: Orange Beach leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orange Beach and Washington DC.

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.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around 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
29 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Orange BeachWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrange BeachWashington 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
Elevation4 m72 m
Main airportPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrange BeachWashington DC
City population8,095689,545
People per km²1963,896
Museums within 10 km098
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Orange Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.