VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Bologna or Jerusalem?

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

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Jerusalem for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’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, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Jerusalem 66: Bologna leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Jerusalem 92: Jerusalem leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Jerusalem 38: Bologna leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Jerusalem 60: Jerusalem leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Jerusalem 80: Bologna leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Bologna 50, Jerusalem 52: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Jerusalem 55: Bologna leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Jerusalem 48: Bologna leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Jerusalem 20: Bologna leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Jerusalem 40: Bologna leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna 40, Jerusalem 42: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Jerusalem.

Your match

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

Bologna
Best match
60match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches 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

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BolognaJerusalem

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.

Jerusalem 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaJerusalem
Official languageItalianHebrew
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 100, fire 102
Elevation54 m754 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaJerusalem
City population387,9711,050,151
People per km²2,7548,374
Museums within 10 km6869
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km37
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bologna or Jerusalem 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.