VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Budapest or Lisbon?

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 Budapest for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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. Budapest 25, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Lisbon 78: Budapest leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Lisbon 75: Budapest leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Budapest and Lisbon are level on 62.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Lisbon 66: Budapest leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Lisbon 55: Budapest leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Lisbon 60: Budapest leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Lisbon 36: Budapest leads by 62 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Budapest
67match

Wins on wellness and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Lisbon
65match

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.

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestLisbon
Official languageHungarianPortuguese
CurrencyForint (HUF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation117 m100 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestLisbon
City population1,675,777545,796
People per km²3,1915,453
Museums within 10 km8180
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Budapest or Lisbon 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.