VacationSelector
The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
BerlinThe Brandenburg Gate
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Berlin by Claudia Solano, Pexels License; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Berlin 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 Berlin for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Palermo for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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.

Beaches & swimming. Berlin 38, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Berlin 66, Palermo 81: Palermo leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Berlin 86, Palermo 80: Berlin leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Berlin 98, Palermo 58: Berlin leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Berlin 50, Palermo 72: Palermo leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Berlin 66, Palermo 84: Palermo leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Berlin 76, Palermo 44: Berlin leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Berlin 82, Palermo 50: Berlin leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Berlin 68, Palermo 44: Berlin leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Berlin 48, Palermo 63: Palermo leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Berlin 90, Palermo 62: Berlin leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Berlin 55, Palermo 30: Berlin leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Berlin and Palermo.

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.

Palermo
62match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
BerlinPalermo

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. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBerlinPalermo
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 m14 m
Main airportBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBerlinPalermo
City population3,700,577630,167
People per km²4,1533,924
Museums within 10 km15742
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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