VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Paris or Washington DC?

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
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Washington DC leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, Washington DC 67: Paris leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, Washington DC 84: Paris leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, Washington DC 57: Paris leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, Washington DC 73: Paris leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, Washington DC 73: Paris leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, Washington DC 72: Paris leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, Washington DC 52: Paris leads by 46 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, Washington DC 67: Paris leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris 40, Washington DC 26: Paris leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Paris and Washington DC.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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 seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ParisWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisWashington DC
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation27 m72 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureParisWashington DC
City population2,103,778689,545
People per km²19,9603,896
Museums within 10 km25198
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
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 Washington DC 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.