VacationSelector
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Washington DC or Windhoek?

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 Washington DC for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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. Washington DC 12, Windhoek 4: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Washington DC 67, Windhoek 36: Washington DC leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Washington DC 84, Windhoek 30: Washington DC leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Washington DC 57, Windhoek 25: Washington DC leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Washington DC 64, Windhoek 52: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Washington DC 73, Windhoek 14: Washington DC leads by 59 points.
Good for families. Washington DC 73, Windhoek 30: Washington DC leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Washington DC 72, Windhoek 22: Washington DC leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Washington DC 52, Windhoek 30: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Washington DC 28, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Washington DC 67, Windhoek 18: Washington DC leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Washington DC 26, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Washington DC
Best match
56match

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

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Washington DC in July

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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Washington DCWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureWashington DCWindhoek
Official language-English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation72 m1,650 m
Main airportRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureWashington DCWindhoek
City population689,545486,169
People per km²3,89695
Museums within 10 km985
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Washington DC or Windhoek 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.