VacationSelector
The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
BerlinThe Brandenburg Gate
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Berlin by Claudia Solano, Pexels License; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Berlin or Lisbon?

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 Berlin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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. Berlin 38, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Berlin 66, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Berlin 86, Lisbon 78: Berlin leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Berlin 98, Lisbon 75: Berlin leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Berlin 50, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Berlin 66, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Berlin 76, Lisbon 62: Berlin leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Berlin 82, Lisbon 66: Berlin leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Berlin 68, Lisbon 60: Berlin leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Berlin 48, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Berlin 90, Lisbon 60: Berlin leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Berlin 55, Lisbon 36: Berlin leads by 19 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Berlin
Best match
69match

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

Lisbon
65match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Berlin in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
76 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BerlinLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBerlinLisbon
Official languageGermanPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation34 m100 m
Main airportBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBerlinLisbon
City population3,700,577545,796
People per km²4,1535,453
Museums within 10 km15780
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Berlin or Lisbon 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.