VacationSelector
Pulteney Bridge and the weir on the Avon, Bath
BathPulteney Bridge and the weir on the Avon
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Bath by Lucas Carlini, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Bath 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 Bath for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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. Bath 10, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Bath 44, Lucerne 35: Bath leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bath 68, Lucerne 58: Bath leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bath 30, Lucerne 28: Bath leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bath 58, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Bath 80, Lucerne 78: Bath leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bath 50, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Bath 72, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Bath 54, Lucerne 46: Bath leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bath 27, Lucerne 8: Bath leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bath 44, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bath 78, Lucerne 46: Bath leads by 32 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bath
51match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bath in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
BathLucerne

Where the figures come from

Bath's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Lyneham.

Bath 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. Bath: 1991-2020 normals, Lyneham (29.2 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBathLucerne
Official languageEnglishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation132 m436 m
Main airportBristol Airport (BRS)25 km from centre117 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBathLucerne
City population94,09286,234
People per km²3,2452,963
Museums within 10 km1714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bath 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.