VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bologna or Helsinki?

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 Bologna for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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. Bologna 30, Helsinki 28: Bologna leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Helsinki 52: Bologna leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Helsinki 60: Bologna leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Helsinki 50: Bologna leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Helsinki 58: Helsinki leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Helsinki 62: Bologna leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Bologna 50, Helsinki 76: Helsinki leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Helsinki 86: Helsinki leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Helsinki 62: Helsinki leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Helsinki 30: Bologna leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Helsinki 63: Helsinki leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna 40, Helsinki 82: Helsinki leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Helsinki.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bologna
60match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Helsinki
59match

Wins on wellness and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BolognaHelsinki

Where the figures come from

Bologna 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.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaHelsinki
Official languageItalianFinnish, Swedish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation54 m17 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaHelsinki
City population387,971694,392
People per km²2,7543,239
Museums within 10 km6874
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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