VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rome or Wilmington?

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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Rome 50, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Wilmington 48: Rome leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Wilmington 40: Rome leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Wilmington 40: Rome leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome and Wilmington are level on 58.
Day trips. Rome 92, Wilmington 45: Rome leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Wilmington 28: Rome leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Wilmington 33: Rome leads by 39 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Wilmington 40: Rome leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Wilmington 33: Rome leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

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

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
RomeWilmington

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. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeWilmington
Official languageItalian-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation21 m9 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeWilmington
City population2,748,109115,451
People per km²2,135839
Museums within 10 km1782
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome or Wilmington 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.