Paris or New York?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on sights concentration and value for money with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and places to eat with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose New York if you want summer heat and swimming: 17 beaches within reach, a sea warm enough to use in August, and a somewhat wider choice of restaurants near the centre.
Choose Paris if the trip is walking between museums and monuments: far more of what you would want to see sits close to the centre, and its summers are drier and a little milder.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. New York leads by 64 points.64
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 64 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 3 |
| Beaches 10 km | 2 | 17 |
| Coast distance | 149 km | 1 km |
| Water distance | — | 1 km |
Places to eat. New York leads by 5 points.5
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 90 | 95 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 4,732 | 6,032 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 33 | 38 |
Museums & heritage. Paris leads by 16 points.16
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 60 |
| Museums within 10 km | 185 | 119 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 65 | 31 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 35 | 26 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 4 | 2 |
Nightlife. New York leads by 1 points.1
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 88 | 89 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 3,796 | 4,159 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 1,694 | 2,015 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 45 | 48 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 201 | 192 |
Nature & day trips. Paris leads by 9 points.9
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48 | 39 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 28 | 4 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 26 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 69 |
| Park area within 2 km | 82 hectares | 134 hectares |
Good for families. Paris leads by 3 points.3
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75 | 72 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 89 | 37 |
| Park area within 2 km | 82 hectares | 134 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 7 |
Sights concentration. Paris leads by 20 points.20
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 94 | 74 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 865 | 268 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Paris leads by 19 points.19
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 43 |
| Price level global | 73.7 | 100 |
| Daily budget | €160 | — |
Year-round weather. Paris leads by 8 points.8
| Paris | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 66 | 58 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.8 °C to 26 °C | 4.5 °C to 30.1 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 38 mm to 75 mm | 74 mm to 112 mm |
| Dry months | 1 | 0 |
Where they differ
New York has the coast: 17 beaches within reach against Paris's 2, and in high summer the sea reaches 21°C or more, where Paris has no swimming season at all. Its choice of restaurants near the centre is somewhat wider, both in number and in range of kitchens.
Paris concentrates its interest instead: about three times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, and about twice as many museums, set more tightly around it, with 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against New York's 2.
Where they are alike
Nightlife is the closest match of all. The two have a comparable number of bars and a comparable number of nightclubs, and in both cities about half of them sit near the centre, so a night out needs little planning either way.
Both also work for families, though by different means: Paris has more attractions close in, New York more park space and more theme parks within reach. Eating out is a strength in both, with New York somewhat ahead on choice.
Which traveller are you?
A family with a summer week: New York, for 17 beaches within reach, 7 theme parks against Paris's 3, and more park space near the centre. Paris answers with more attractions close in.
A culture traveller on a short break: Paris. About three times as many notable places lie within walking distance of the centre, and about twice as many museums, clustered tightly, so days need little transit.
Eating and nights out: close either way. Bars and clubs are comparable in number and in how near the centre they sit, while New York edges ahead on restaurant choice and range of kitchens.
What the numbers don't tell you
No cost comparison is possible here. The dataset carries a daily budget for Paris but none at all for New York, so nothing on this page tells you which of the two is the cheaper trip, and the value axis rests on a different measure rather than on prices you would actually pay.
Sunshine hours are missing for both cities, so that side of the weather comparison is unmeasured rather than poor. New York's coastal advantage is also seasonal: the sea reaches 21°C or more for three months only, and rain runs high in every month, including the warmest.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).
Late spring and early autumn suit New York best: highs of 22-27°C in May and June, and a sea still at 21°C in September. High summer is hotter but also the wettest stretch, and rainfall stays at 74-112mm right through the year.
Paris is at its best from June to August, with highs of 24-26°C and rainfall near 51-58mm, clearly drier than New York over the same weeks. Its winter highs hold around 8°C, so the shoulder months stay workable.
Getting there
| Flying from | Paris | New York |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 5 m €63-103 CDG · 22 km | 7 h 10 m €459-498 JFK · 21 km |
| MilanMXP, BGY, LIN | 1 h 20 m €61-89 CDG · 22 km | 8 h 15 m €430-458 JFK · 21 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 55 m €107-141 ORY · 14 km | 7 h 25 m €474-553 1 stop JFK · 21 km |
| AtlantaATL, PDK | 9 h 0 m €555-767 1 stop CDG · 22 km | 2 h 5 m €165-236 EWR · 14 km |
| Los AngelesLAX, BUR, SNA, VNY | 11 h 25 m €687-789 CDG · 22 km | 5 h 20 m €314-354 1 stop JFK · 21 km |
| MontrealYUL, YHU, YMX | 7 h 10 m €444-536 CDG · 22 km | 1 h 15 m €229-272 LGA · 13 km |
| TorontoYYZ, YHM, YTZ | 7 h 45 m €445-510 1 stop CDG · 22 km | 1 h 20 m €206-234 LGA · 13 km |
| TokyoHND, NRT | 12 h 5 m €705-999 1 stop CDG · 22 km | 13 h 30 m €989-1136 JFK · 21 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 50 m €292-389 1 stop CDG · 22 km | 13 h 40 m no fares EWR · 14 km |
| Mexico CityMEX, NLU, TLC | 11 h 30 m no fares CDG · 22 km | 4 h 40 m €374-446 1 stop JFK · 21 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Paris | New York |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French | – |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 911 |
| Elevation | 27 m | 25 m |
| Main airport | Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations | John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre188 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Paris | New York |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 2,103,778 | 8,804,190 |
| People per km² | 19,960 | 7,256 |
| Museums within 10 km | 251 | 157 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 2 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 169 | 132 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | – | 3 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Paris or New York somewhere new.