VacationSelector
The Flame Towers from the seafront, Baku
BakuThe Flame Towers from the seafront
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock

Photos: Baku by Zulfugar Karimov, Pexels License; Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Baku or Jerusalem?

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 Baku for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Jerusalem for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’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. Baku and Jerusalem are level on 40.
Food & drink. Baku 60, Jerusalem 66: Jerusalem leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Baku 62, Jerusalem 92: Jerusalem leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Baku 42, Jerusalem 38: Baku leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Baku 30, Jerusalem 60: Jerusalem leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Baku 45, Jerusalem 80: Jerusalem leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Baku 45, Jerusalem 52: Jerusalem leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Baku 58, Jerusalem 55: Baku leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Baku and Jerusalem are level on 48.
Affordability. Baku 64, Jerusalem 20: Baku leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Baku 52, Jerusalem 40: Baku leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Baku 30, Jerusalem 42: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Baku
48match

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

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Baku in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BakuJerusalem

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem 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. Baku: 1991-2020 normals, Mashtaga (23.2 km from centre). Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBakuJerusalem
Official languageAzerbaijani, Azerbaijani Sign LanguageHebrew
CurrencyAzerbaijan Manat (AZN)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number102 or 112Police 100, fire 102
Elevation-28 m754 m
Main airportHeydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD)22 km from centre79 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureBakuJerusalem
City population2,300,5001,050,151
People per km²1,0758,374
Museums within 10 km5069
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km27
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Baku or Jerusalem 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). 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.