VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Philadelphia or Santo Domingo?

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 Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Santo Domingo for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santo Domingo’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. Philadelphia 36, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, Santo Domingo 58: Philadelphia leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Santo Domingo 64: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, Santo Domingo 36: Philadelphia leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Santo Domingo 44: Philadelphia leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, Santo Domingo 40: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Santo Domingo 40: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Santo Domingo 44: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Santo Domingo 46: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Santo Domingo 22: Philadelphia leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and Santo Domingo.

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Santo Domingo
49match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaSanto Domingo

Where the figures come from

Santo Domingo 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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaSanto Domingo
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m14 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaSanto Domingo
City population1,603,7972,201,941
People per km²4,3391,691
Museums within 10 km5410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Philadelphia or Santo Domingo 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.