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 House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Panama City or Riga?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Riga for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Riga 52: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Riga 66: Riga leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Riga 52: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Riga 55: Panama City leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Riga 60: Riga leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Riga 50: Riga leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Riga 68: Riga leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Riga 45: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Riga 62: Riga leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Riga 65: Riga leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Riga 50: Riga leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Riga.

Your match

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

Panama City
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and nightlife with your weighting.

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts 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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityRiga

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). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityRiga
Official languageSpanishLatvian
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation20 m6 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityRiga
City population1,540,000588,911
People per km²5,600-
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Panama City or Riga 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.