VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Philadelphia or Valparaiso?

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

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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 and Valparaiso are level on 36.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, Valparaiso 50: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Valparaiso 62: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Valparaiso 63: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, Valparaiso 33: Philadelphia leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Valparaiso 44: Philadelphia leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Valparaiso 30: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Valparaiso 38: Philadelphia leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Valparaiso 18: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

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

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso 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). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaValparaiso
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation12 m21 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaValparaiso
City population1,603,797296,655
People per km²4,3396,180
Museums within 10 km5417
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Valparaiso 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.