Photos: Belfast by Nico Kaiser, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.
Belfast or Palermo?
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 Belfast for
- families
- getting around
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Belfast’s own page.
Choose Palermo for
- beaches
- food and drink
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Belfast and Palermo.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.
Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Belfast in July
Palermo in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Palermo 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.
Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Belfast: 1991-2020 normals, Belfast / Aldergrove Airport (19.4 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Belfast | Palermo |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | Italian |
| Currency | Pound Sterling (GBP) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 999 | 112 |
| Elevation | 3 m | 14 m |
| Main airport | George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD)4 km from centre25 non-stop destinations | Falcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 10 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Belfast | Palermo |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 345,006 | 630,167 |
| People per km² | 3,000 | 3,924 |
| Museums within 10 km | 8 | 42 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Belfast or Palermo somewhere new.