VacationSelector
The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
BerlinThe Brandenburg Gate
The cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, Milan
MilanThe cathedral from Piazza del Duomo

Photos: Berlin by Claudia Solano, Pexels License; Milan by Jiuguang Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Berlin or Milan?

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

  • nightlife
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Milan for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Milan’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, Milan 20: Berlin leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Berlin 66, Milan 78: Milan leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Berlin 86, Milan 78: Berlin leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Berlin 98, Milan 66: Berlin leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Berlin 50, Milan 65: Milan leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Berlin 66, Milan 91: Milan leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Berlin 76, Milan 55: Berlin leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Berlin 82, Milan 79: Berlin leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Berlin 68, Milan 92: Milan leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Berlin 48, Milan 33: Berlin leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Berlin 90, Milan 82: Berlin leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Berlin 55, Milan 42: Berlin leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Berlin and Milan.

Your match

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

Berlin
Best match
69match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

Milan
65match

Wins on day trips and shopping 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
16 hdaylight a day

Milan in July

30 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
BerlinMilan

Where the figures come from

Milan 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.

Milan's sunshine is measured 41 km from the centre, at Novara / Cameri.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Milano / Linate (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBerlinMilan
Official languageGermanItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation34 m138 m
Main airportBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinationsMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre208 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBerlinMilan
City population3,700,5771,354,196
People per km²4,1537,453
Museums within 10 km15788
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km44

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Berlin or Milan 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.