VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Philadelphia or Tromso?

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
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, Tromso 36: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Tromso 27: Philadelphia leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Tromso 38: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Tromso 14: Philadelphia leads by 66 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, Tromso 45: Philadelphia leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Tromso 60: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Tromso 15: Philadelphia leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Tromso 11: Philadelphia leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Tromso 32: Philadelphia leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and Tromso.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaTromso
Official language-Norwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation12 m20 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaTromso
City population1,603,79779,943
People per km²4,33932
Museums within 10 km548
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Philadelphia or Tromso 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.