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
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Panama City or Varanasi?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Panama City leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Varanasi 55: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Varanasi 10: Panama City leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Varanasi 18: Panama City leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Varanasi 42: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Varanasi 5: Panama City leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Varanasi 28: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Varanasi 30: Varanasi leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Panama City
Best match
50match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityVaranasi

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.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityVaranasi
Official languageSpanishHindi, English
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation20 m76 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityVaranasi
City population1,540,0001,198,491
People per km²5,60014,598
Museums within 10 km102
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 Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.