VacationSelector
Whitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum, Palm Beach
Palm BeachWhitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Palm Beach by Khowald, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Palm Beach or Portland?

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 Palm Beach for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Portland for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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. Palm Beach 82, Portland 20: Palm Beach leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Palm Beach 47, Portland 68: Portland leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Palm Beach 45, Portland 38: Palm Beach leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Palm Beach 32, Portland 52: Portland leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palm Beach 58, Portland 84: Portland leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Palm Beach 55, Portland 58: Portland leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Palm Beach 62, Portland 55: Palm Beach leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Palm Beach 32, Portland 62: Portland leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Palm Beach 66, Portland 52: Palm Beach leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Palm Beach 12, Portland 38: Portland leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palm Beach 45, Portland 55: Portland leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palm Beach 55, Portland 42: Palm Beach leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palm Beach and Portland.

Your match

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

Palm Beach
49match

Wins on beaches and shopping with your weighting.

Portland
Best match
52match

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.

Palm Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Palm BeachPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (6.8 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalm BeachPortland
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2 m152 m
Main airportPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalm BeachPortland
City population9,245652,503
People per km²3221,736
Museums within 10 km417
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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