VacationSelector
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Portland or Rome?

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 Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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. Portland 20, Rome 50: Rome leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Portland 68, Rome 82: Rome leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Portland 38, Rome 99: Rome leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Portland 52, Rome 58: Rome leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Portland 84, Rome 58: Portland leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Portland 58, Rome 92: Rome leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Portland 55, Rome 50: Portland leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Portland 62, Rome 60: Portland leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Portland 52, Rome 72: Rome leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Portland and Rome are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Portland 55, Rome 68: Rome leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Portland 42, Rome 40: Portland leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Portland
52match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PortlandRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortlandRome
Official language-Italian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation152 m21 m
Main airportPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortlandRome
City population652,5032,748,109
People per km²1,7362,135
Museums within 10 km17178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km07
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Portland or Rome 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.