Berlin or New York?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on museums & heritage and value for money with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and places to eat with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Berlin if the trip is built around museums and heritage, with 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, sights close enough to walk between, and protected countryside for days out.
Choose New York if eating and going out matter most, and if you want a late-summer city where the sea reaches 23°C in August.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. New York leads by 64 points.64
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 64 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 3 |
| Beaches 10 km | 17 | 17 |
| Coast distance | 142 km | 1 km |
| Water distance | — | 1 km |
Places to eat. New York leads by 25 points.25
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 95 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,117 | 6,032 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 33 | 38 |
Museums & heritage. Berlin leads by 19 points.19
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79 | 60 |
| Museums within 10 km | 200 | 119 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 81 | 31 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 41 | 26 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 4 | 2 |
Nightlife. New York leads by 13 points.13
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 89 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 2,114 | 4,159 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 719 | 2,015 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 34 | 48 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 135 | 192 |
Nature & day trips. Berlin leads by 10 points.10
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49 | 39 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 20 | 4 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 16 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 69 |
| Park area within 2 km | 141 hectares | 134 hectares |
Good for families. Berlin leads by 4 points.4
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 72 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 54 | 37 |
| Park area within 2 km | 141 hectares | 134 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 5 | 7 |
Sights concentration. Berlin leads by 10 points.10
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 84 | 74 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 486 | 268 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Berlin leads by 17 points.17
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 43 |
| Price level global | 75.9 | 100 |
| Daily budget | €163 | — |
Year-round weather. Berlin leads by 2 points.2
| Berlin | New York | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 58 |
| Monthly daytime high | 3.7 °C to 25 °C | 4.5 °C to 30.1 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 29 mm to 76 mm | 74 mm to 112 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 0 |
Where they differ
Berlin has about twice as many museums as New York, and 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against 2. Its museums and notable places sit tightly around the centre, roughly twice as many within walking distance, so days need less transport. Around Berlin, 20% of the land is protected against 4%.
New York has many times as many restaurants near the centre and a wider range of kitchens, about twice as many places to drink, and 3 months when the sea reaches 21°C or more, which Berlin never does.
Where they are alike
Weather is where the two are most alike: a real winter, with January highs of 4°C in Berlin and 5°C in New York, then summers warm enough for long days outdoors.
Both also suit families, with similar park space near the centre and theme parks within reach, 5 around Berlin and 7 around New York. Each has a centre dense enough to sightsee on foot, and for both nature day trips are the weakest part of the offer.
Which traveller are you?
Anyone travelling for museums and heritage should take Berlin: about twice as many museums as New York, most of them close together near the centre, and 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach.
If the trip is planned around eating and late nights, New York: many times as many restaurants near the centre, a wider range of kitchens, and about twice as many places to drink, half of them central.
Families with swimmers in tow will get more from New York, where the sea holds 23°C in August and 7 theme parks are within reach. Berlin suits families who prefer attractions and parks near the centre.
What the numbers don't tell you
No cost comparison is possible here. The dataset gives Berlin a daily budget of about €163 and carries no equivalent figure for New York, so nothing here tells you which city is the more expensive trip; the value axis rests on a different measure that both cities have.
The sunshine figure is also missing for New York, so that side of the weather comparison is unmeasured, and its monthly picture rests on temperature, rainfall and sea temperature alone. The beach reading is a summer one too: the sea reaches 21°C or more in only 3 months, and August, warmest for swimming, is also the wettest at 112mm.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).
Berlin is best from June to August, with highs of 23-25°C, and it has three months at 40mm of rain or less. July is its wettest at 76mm, so a summer trip can still catch rain.
New York's strongest stretch runs June to September, 27°C in June and 25°C in September, with the sea at 21°C or more from July to September. Rain is steady year round and heaviest in August at 112mm.
Getting there
| Flying from | Berlin | New York |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 50 m €65-126 BER · 19 km | 7 h 10 m €459-498 JFK · 21 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 40 m €102-136 BER · 19 km | 7 h 30 m €445-517 JFK · 21 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 1 h 10 m €137-154 BER · 19 km | 7 h 55 m €439-457 1 stop JFK · 21 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 40 m €133-143 BER · 19 km | 10 h 5 m no fares JFK · 21 km |
| MilanMXP, BGY, LIN | 1 h 40 m €86-132 BER · 19 km | 8 h 15 m €430-458 JFK · 21 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 50 m €158-204 1 stop BER · 19 km | 7 h 25 m €474-553 1 stop JFK · 21 km |
| MunichMUC | 1 h 15 m €178-321 BER · 19 km | 8 h 20 m no fares EWR · 14 km |
| ZurichZRH | 1 h 25 m €149-251 BER · 19 km | 8 h 5 m no fares JFK · 21 km |
| Tel Aviv YafoTLV | 4 h 0 m €208-225 1 stop BER · 19 km | 11 h 25 m €622-836 1 stop JFK · 21 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 9 h 20 m €718-820 2 stops BER · 19 km | 13 h 35 m no fares JFK · 21 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Berlin | New York |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | German | – |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 911 |
| Elevation | 34 m | 25 m |
| Main airport | Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinations | John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre188 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 10 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Berlin | New York |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 3,782,202 | 8,804,190 |
| People per km² | 4,244 | 7,256 |
| Museums within 10 km | 158 | 157 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 2 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 86 | 132 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | – | 3 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Berlin or New York somewhere new.