VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
The old town on the Neckar, Heidelberg
HeidelbergThe old town on the Neckar

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Heidelberg by Kuanling Chen, Pexels License.

Avignon or Heidelberg?

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 Avignon for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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

Choose Heidelberg for

  • families
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Heidelberg’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. Avignon 22, Heidelberg 7: Avignon leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Heidelberg 40: Avignon leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Heidelberg 58: Avignon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Heidelberg 38: Heidelberg leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Heidelberg 60: Avignon leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Heidelberg 78: Avignon leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Heidelberg 62: Heidelberg leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Heidelberg 72: Heidelberg leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Heidelberg 40: Heidelberg leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Heidelberg 42: Avignon leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Heidelberg 48: Avignon leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Heidelberg 44: Heidelberg leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Avignon and Heidelberg.

Your match

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

Avignon
Best match
53match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Heidelberg
49match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Heidelberg in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonHeidelberg

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonHeidelberg
Official languageFrenchGerman
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m114 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre281 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonHeidelberg
City population92,188156,092
People per km²1,4201,433
Museums within 10 km1117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km64

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Avignon or Heidelberg 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. 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.