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
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Panama City or Sedona?

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
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Sedona for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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, Sedona 16: Panama City leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Sedona 33: Panama City leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Sedona 20: Panama City leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Sedona 8: Panama City leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Sedona 55: Sedona leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Sedona 42: Panama City leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Sedona 22: Panama City leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Sedona 34: Panama City leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Sedona 18: Panama City leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Sedona 13: Panama City leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Sedona 82: Sedona leads by 60 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Sedona.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Sedona
36match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CitySedona

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.

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona 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). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CitySedona
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation20 m1,319 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CitySedona
City population1,540,0009,684
People per km²5,600195
Museums within 10 km100
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 Sedona 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.