VacationSelector
White sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach, Pensacola
PensacolaWhite sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Pensacola by Jason Meredith, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Pensacola or Philadelphia?

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 Pensacola for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Pensacola 84, Philadelphia 36: Pensacola leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Pensacola 45, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Pensacola 45, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Pensacola 42, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Pensacola 62, Philadelphia 52: Pensacola leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Pensacola 45, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Pensacola 62, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Pensacola 18, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Pensacola 28, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Pensacola 44, Philadelphia 40: Pensacola leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Pensacola 36, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Pensacola 30, Philadelphia 26: Pensacola leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Pensacola and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Pensacola
45match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around 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.

Pensacola in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PensacolaPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Pensacola: 1991-2020 normals, Pensacola / Pleasant Grove (12.3 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePensacolaPhiladelphia
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation31 m12 m
Main airportPensacola International Airport (PNS)6 km from centre27 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePensacolaPhiladelphia
City population54,3121,603,797
People per km²5154,339
Museums within 10 km554
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Pensacola or Philadelphia 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.