Bologna or Heidelberg?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nightlife and sights concentration with your weighting.
Wins on nature & day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Bologna and Heidelberg are level on 0.
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 2 | 6 |
| Coast distance | 74 km | 406 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Bologna leads by 11 points.11
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 47 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 822 | 269 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 26 |
Museums & heritage. Bologna leads by 8 points.8
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 59 |
| Museums within 10 km | 58 | 54 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 43 | 23 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 74 | 43 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 3 | 4 |
Nightlife. Bologna leads by 26 points.26
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 27 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 720 | 201 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 531 | 169 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 74 | 84 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 30 | 8 |
Nature & day trips. Heidelberg leads by 35 points.35
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 39 | 74 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 7 | 52 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 1 | 22 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 119 hectares | 20 hectares |
Good for families. Bologna leads by 12 points.12
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 43 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 32 | 29 |
| Park area within 2 km | 119 hectares | 20 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Bologna leads by 24 points.24
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 36 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 120 | 31 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Bologna leads by 8 points.8
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 60 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 75.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €163 |
Year-round weather. Bologna leads by 6 points.6
| Bologna | Heidelberg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 61 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7 °C to 31.5 °C | 5.2 °C to 25.8 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 34 mm to 75 mm | 45 mm to 80 mm |
| Dry months | 5 | 0 |
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. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Bologna | Heidelberg |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 0 m €114-267 BLQ · 6 km | 1 h 25 m €74-124 FRA · 69 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 25 m €154-191 1 stop BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 50 m €135-301 FRA · 69 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 40 m €42-75 BLQ · 6 km | 1 h 55 m €102-123 FRA · 69 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 40 m €158-262 1 stop BLQ · 6 km | 1 h 10 m €139-148 FRA · 69 km |
| CataniaCTA | 1 h 40 m €41-45 BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 25 m no fares FRA · 69 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 10 m no fares BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 20 m €145-238 1 stop FRA · 69 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 30 m €637-650 VCE · 138 km | 7 h 55 m €537-713 FRA · 69 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 5 h 55 m no fares BLQ · 6 km | 6 h 20 m €296-339 1 stop FRA · 69 km |
| MaleMLE | 9 h 35 m no fares VRN · 106 km | 9 h 55 m no fares FRA · 69 km |
| CancunCUN | 11 h 10 m no fares VRN · 106 km | 10 h 45 m no fares FRA · 69 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 2026-09, 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 | Bologna | Heidelberg |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | German |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 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 | 54 m | 114 m |
| Main airport | Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre97 non-stop destinations | Frankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre293 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Bologna | Heidelberg |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 387,971 | 162,960 |
| People per km² | 2,754 | 1,496 |
| Museums within 10 km | 66 | 17 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 3 | 4 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 62 | 45 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bologna or Heidelberg somewhere new.