VacationSelector
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom, Orlando
OrlandoCinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Orlando by Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Orlando 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 Orlando for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Orlando 42, Washington DC 12: Orlando leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Orlando 48, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Orlando 22, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 62 points.
Nightlife. Orlando 40, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orlando 46, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Orlando 58, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Orlando 98, Washington DC 73: Orlando leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Orlando 8, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Orlando 58, Washington DC 52: Orlando leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Orlando 36, Washington DC 28: Orlando leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orlando 40, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orlando 32, Washington DC 26: Orlando leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orlando and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Orlando
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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
No seasea
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
OrlandoWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Orlando: 1991-2020 normals, Orlando Airport (14.2 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrlandoWashington DC
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation34 m72 m
Main airportOrlando International Airport (MCO)14 km from centre169 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrlandoWashington DC
City population334,854689,545
People per km²1,0863,896
Museums within 10 km1198
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Orlando 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.