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
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Panama City or Quebec City?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Quebec City for

  • wellness
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Quebec City’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, Quebec City 18: Panama City leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Panama City and Quebec City are level on 57.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Quebec City 70: Quebec City leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Quebec City 42: Panama City leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Quebec City 79: Quebec City leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Quebec City 58: Quebec City leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Quebec City 64: Quebec City leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Quebec City 50: Quebec City leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Quebec City 45: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Quebec City 45: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Quebec City 52: Quebec City leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Quebec City 55: Quebec City leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Quebec City.

Your match

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

Panama City
50match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Quebec City
Best match
53match

Wins on wellness 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.

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Quebec City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityQuebec City

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). Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityQuebec City
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation20 m98 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityQuebec City
City population1,540,000574,482
People per km²5,6001,184
Museums within 10 km1016
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 Quebec City 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.