VacationSelector
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom, Orlando
OrlandoCinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
The top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain, Vail
VailThe top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain

Photos: Orlando by Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Vail by DReifGalaxyM31, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Orlando or Vail?

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 Orlando for

  • families
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Vail for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Vail’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. Orlando 42, Vail 5: Orlando leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Orlando 48, Vail 35: Orlando leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Orlando 22, Vail 10: Orlando leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Orlando 40, Vail 30: Orlando leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orlando 46, Vail 92: Vail leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Orlando 58, Vail 45: Orlando leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Orlando 98, Vail 55: Orlando leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Orlando 8, Vail 62: Vail leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Orlando 58, Vail 35: Orlando leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Orlando 36, Vail 5: Orlando leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orlando 40, Vail 42: Vail leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orlando 32, Vail 48: Vail leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orlando and Vail.

Your match

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

Orlando
Best match
44match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Vail
39match

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.

Orlando in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Vail in July

29 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
35 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
OrlandoVail

Where the figures come from

Vail's temperatures are measured 47 km from the centre, at Kremmling.

Vail's station stands 186 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Vail 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. Orlando: 1991-2020 normals, Orlando Airport (14.2 km from centre). Vail: 2006-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kremmling (46.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrlandoVail
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation34 m2,445 m
Main airportOrlando International Airport (MCO)14 km from centre170 non-stop destinationsEagle County Regional Airport (EGE)48 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrlandoVail
City population334,8544,835
People per km²1,086400
Museums within 10 km111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Orlando or Vail 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. 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.