VacationSelector
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Panama City or Puerto Iguazu?

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 Panama City for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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. Panama City 44, Puerto Iguazu 5: Panama City leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Puerto Iguazu 28: Panama City leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Puerto Iguazu 9: Panama City leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Puerto Iguazu 14: Panama City leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Puerto Iguazu 33: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Puerto Iguazu 55: Puerto Iguazu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Puerto Iguazu 54: Puerto Iguazu leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Puerto Iguazu 17: Panama City leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Puerto Iguazu 48: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Puerto Iguazu 7: Panama City leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Puerto Iguazu 34: Puerto Iguazu leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Puerto Iguazu.

Your match

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

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityPuerto Iguazu

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityPuerto Iguazu
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation20 m162 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityPuerto Iguazu
City population1,540,00054,903
People per km²5,600-
Museums within 10 km100
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Panama City or Puerto Iguazu 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.