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
Santa Claus Village in winter, Rovaniemi
RovaniemiSanta Claus Village in winter

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

Panama City or Rovaniemi?

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

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Rovaniemi for

  • wellness
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Rovaniemi’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, Rovaniemi 10: Panama City leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Rovaniemi 25: Panama City leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Rovaniemi 22: Panama City leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Rovaniemi 15: Panama City leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Rovaniemi 78: Rovaniemi leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Rovaniemi 8: Panama City leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Rovaniemi 72: Rovaniemi leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Rovaniemi 36: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Rovaniemi 18: Panama City leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Rovaniemi 18: Panama City leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Rovaniemi 22: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Rovaniemi 60: Rovaniemi leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Rovaniemi.

Your match

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

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Rovaniemi
32match

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

Rovaniemi in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
No seasea
22 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityRovaniemi

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.

Rovaniemi 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). Rovaniemi: 2008-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rovaniemi Rautatieasema / Kuusela (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityRovaniemi
Official languageSpanishFinnish, Swedish
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation20 m88 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsRovaniemi Airport (RVN)8 km from centre44 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityRovaniemi
City population1,540,00065,329
People per km²5,6009
Museums within 10 km106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Rovaniemi 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.