VacationSelector
Amalfi and its harbour below the cliff, Amalfi
AmalfiAmalfi and its harbour below the cliff
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Amalfi by Oleksandra Zelena, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Amalfi or Lucerne?

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 Amalfi for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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. Amalfi 64, Lucerne 35: Amalfi leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Amalfi 48, Lucerne 35: Amalfi leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Amalfi 36, Lucerne 58: Lucerne leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Amalfi 12, Lucerne 28: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amalfi 82, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Amalfi 88, Lucerne 78: Amalfi leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Amalfi 28, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Amalfi 48, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Amalfi 34, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Amalfi 18, Lucerne 8: Amalfi leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amalfi 22, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amalfi 32, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amalfi and Lucerne.

Your match

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

Amalfi
43match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Amalfi in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
28 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmalfiLucerne

Where the figures come from

Amalfi's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Amalfi 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.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amalfi: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (64.7 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmalfiLucerne
Official languageItalianFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m436 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)38 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmalfiLucerne
City population4,72986,234
People per km²8302,963
Museums within 10 km814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amalfi or Lucerne 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.