VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Paris or Petra?

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 Paris for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Petra for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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. Paris 9, Petra 5: Paris leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, Petra 22: Paris leads by 74 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, Petra 85: Paris leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, Petra 5: Paris leads by 75 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, Petra 78: Petra leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, Petra 30: Paris leads by 62 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, Petra 25: Paris leads by 54 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, Petra 25: Paris leads by 63 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, Petra 18: Paris leads by 80 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, Petra 45: Petra leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, Petra 10: Paris leads by 78 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris 40, Petra 28: Paris leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Paris and Petra.

Your match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Petra
31match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ParisPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisPetra
Official languageFrenchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation27 m850 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureParisPetra
City population2,103,778-
People per km²19,960-
Museums within 10 km2512
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Paris or Petra 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.