Berlin or Vienna?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nature & day trips and sights concentration with your weighting.
Wins on places to eat and museums & heritage 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 you want the walkable centre and the green surroundings: twice as many notable places within walking distance as Vienna, twice the park space near the centre, and 20% of the land around the city protected. It also edges ahead for families.
Choose Vienna if eating out drives the trip, with more restaurants near the centre, and if you want the warmer summer, reaching 27°C.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Berlin and Vienna are level on 0.
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 17 | 22 |
| Coast distance | 142 km | 10,000 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Vienna leads by 7 points.7
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 77 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,117 | 1,617 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 33 | 37 |
Museums & heritage. Vienna leads by 2 points.2
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79 | 81 |
| Museums within 10 km | 200 | 192 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 81 | 110 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 41 | 57 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 4 | 3 |
Nightlife. Berlin leads by 2 points.2
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 74 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 2,114 | 1,948 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 719 | 1,089 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 34 | 56 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 135 | 108 |
Nature & day trips. Berlin leads by 17 points.17
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49 | 32 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 20 | 4 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 16 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 141 hectares | 93 hectares |
Good for families. Berlin leads by 7 points.7
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 69 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 54 | 46 |
| Park area within 2 km | 141 hectares | 93 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 5 | 4 |
Sights concentration. Berlin leads by 9 points.9
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 84 | 75 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 486 | 287 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Berlin leads by 1 points.1
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 59 |
| Price level global | 75.9 | 76.9 |
| Daily budget | €163 | €160 |
Year-round weather. Vienna leads by 1 points.1
| Berlin | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 61 |
| Monthly daytime high | 3.7 °C to 25 °C | 3.3 °C to 26.8 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 29 mm to 76 mm | 38 mm to 80 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 1 |
Where they differ
The land around Berlin is far greener: 20% of it is protected against 4% around Vienna, and there is roughly twice as much park space near the centre. The core is denser with things to see, holding about twice as many notable places within walking distance. Families get more attractions near the centre and 5 theme parks within reach against 4.
Vienna has somewhat more restaurants near the centre, though both cover a similar range of kitchens, and its nightclubs sit largely near the centre.
Where they are alike
Neither is a swimming destination. Vienna has 22 beaches nearby and Berlin 17, and in neither does the water reach 21°C in any month, so bathing is a warm-day extra rather than a reason to go.
Both are heavyweight museum cities, Berlin with 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Vienna's 3. Drinking venues are similarly plentiful in both, the yearly temperature range is close, and the national price estimates behind the two countries are close as well.
Which traveller are you?
Families are better served in Berlin: more tourist attractions near the centre, roughly twice the park space within reach, and 5 theme parks against Vienna's 4, which helps when a museum day collapses.
Anyone organising a trip around meals should take Vienna, with somewhat more restaurants near the centre and a comparable spread of kitchens, plus a museum stock that matches Berlin's for a wet afternoon.
Night owls and walkers lean to Berlin, with somewhat more clubs and a centre holding about twice as many notable places within walking distance. Vienna keeps its nightlife near the centre, which suits a short stay without transport.
What the numbers don't tell you
The daily budget of €163 for Germany and €160 for Austria is a national estimate of restaurant and hotel price levels, not a measurement of either city. Capitals and heavily visited cities can sit further from their own country's average than the two national figures sit from each other, so the gap tells you nothing about which city will cost more.
The warmest months are also the wettest, at roughly 76-78mm at the peak. And the beach counts describe places to go rather than swimming weather, since neither city has a month where water reaches 21°C.
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). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).
Berlin suits spring best. April is its driest month at 29mm against Vienna's 42mm, and May holds at 52mm where Vienna sees 80mm, so a shoulder-season trip is the safer bet for dry days.
Vienna is the stronger summer choice, warmer in July and August at 27°C against Berlin's 25°C, though those are also the wettest weeks in both and Vienna's early autumn stays damper. Deep winter is cold in both, with daytime highs of 3-4°C.
Getting there
| Flying from | Berlin | Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 50 m €65-126 BER · 19 km | 2 h 10 m €105-189 1 stop VIE · 18 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 1 h 10 m €137-154 BER · 19 km | 1 h 25 m €143-152 VIE · 18 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 40 m €133-143 BER · 19 km | 2 h 5 m €121-285 VIE · 18 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 40 m €102-136 BER · 19 km | 1 h 55 m €112-162 VIE · 18 km |
| ZurichZRH | 1 h 25 m €149-251 BER · 19 km | 1 h 25 m €170-237 1 stop VIE · 18 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 20 m €159-242 BER · 19 km | 1 h 50 m €180-245 1 stop VIE · 18 km |
| PalmaPMI | 2 h 35 m no fares BER · 19 km | 2 h 25 m no fares VIE · 18 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 10 m €737 BER · 19 km | 8 h 40 m €736-786 1 stop VIE · 18 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 5 m no fares BER · 19 km | 5 h 40 m €292-307 VIE · 18 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 9 h 20 m €718-820 2 stops BER · 19 km | 9 h 25 m no fares VIE · 18 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 | Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | German | German, Austrian Sign Language |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 34 m | 151 m |
| Main airport | Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinations | Vienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre204 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 10 days | 16 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Berlin | Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 3,782,202 | 2,028,289 |
| People per km² | 4,244 | 4,890 |
| Museums within 10 km | 158 | 152 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 86 | 113 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Berlin or Vienna somewhere new.