VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Rio de Janeiro or Washington DC?

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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose Washington DC for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Washington DC 12: Rio de Janeiro leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Washington DC 57: Rio de Janeiro leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Washington DC 64: Rio de Janeiro leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Washington DC 28: Rio de Janeiro leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Washington DC 26: Rio de Janeiro leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on getting around 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.

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroWashington DC

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroWashington DC
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation31 m72 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroWashington DC
City population6,211,223689,545
People per km²4,9303,896
Museums within 10 km6998
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rio de Janeiro or Washington DC somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.