VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Seattle or Sedona?

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 Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Sedona for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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. Seattle 30, Sedona 16: Seattle leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Sedona 33: Seattle leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Sedona 20: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Sedona 8: Seattle leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Seattle and Sedona are level on 55.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Sedona 42: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Sedona 22: Seattle leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Sedona 34: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Sedona 18: Seattle leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Sedona 13: Seattle leads by 57 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Sedona 82: Sedona leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Sedona.

Your match

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

Seattle
Best match
54match

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

Sedona
36match

Wins on wellness 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.

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SeattleSedona

Where the figures come from

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona 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. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleSedona
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation40 m1,319 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleSedona
City population737,0159,684
People per km²1,996195
Museums within 10 km270
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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