VacationSelector
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

The Hague 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 The Hague for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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. The Hague 38, Washington DC 12: The Hague leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. The Hague 48, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. The Hague 66, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. The Hague 38, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. The Hague 52, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Day trips. The Hague 86, Washington DC 73: The Hague leads by 13 points.
Good for families. The Hague 72, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Getting around. The Hague 78, Washington DC 72: The Hague leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. The Hague 55, Washington DC 52: The Hague leads by 3 points.
Affordability. The Hague 35, Washington DC 28: The Hague leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. The Hague 58, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. The Hague 45, Washington DC 26: The Hague leads by 19 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: The Hague and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

The Hague
56match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
The HagueWashington DC

Where the figures come from

The Hague 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.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureThe HagueWashington DC
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation1 m72 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureThe HagueWashington DC
City population548,320689,545
People per km²5,5893,896
Museums within 10 km5498
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow The Hague or Washington DC 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.