VacationSelector
Palm Canyon Drive, lined with tall palms, Palm Springs
Palm SpringsPalm Canyon Drive, lined with tall palms
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Palm Springs by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Palm Springs or Whistler?

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 Springs for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Whistler for

  • getting around
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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 Springs 7, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Palm Springs and Whistler are level on 40.
Culture & sights. Palm Springs 42, Whistler 20: Palm Springs leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Palm Springs 36, Whistler 42: Whistler leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palm Springs 78, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Palm Springs 38, Whistler 30: Palm Springs leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Palm Springs 40, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Palm Springs 22, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Palm Springs 44, Whistler 30: Palm Springs leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Palm Springs 32, Whistler 12: Palm Springs leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palm Springs 40, Whistler 15: Palm Springs leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palm Springs 80, Whistler 60: Palm Springs leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palm Springs and Whistler.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Palm Springs
42match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Palm Springs in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Palm SpringsWhistler

Where the figures come from

Palm Springs 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.

Whistler 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. Palm Springs: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Palm Springs (2.3 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalm SpringsWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation146 m670 m
Main airportPalm Springs International Airport (PSP)2 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalm SpringsWhistler
City population44,57513,982
People per km²18158
Museums within 10 km31
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 Palm Springs or Whistler 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.