VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Budapest or Rome?

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
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Rome for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Rome 82: Rome leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Rome 99: Rome leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Rome 58: Budapest leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest and Rome are level on 58.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Rome 92: Rome leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, Rome 50: Budapest leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Rome 60: Budapest leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Rome 72: Rome leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Rome 38: Budapest leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Rome 68: Budapest leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Rome 40: Budapest leads by 58 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Rome
64match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestRome
Official languageHungarianItalian
CurrencyForint (HUF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation117 m21 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestRome
City population1,675,7772,748,109
People per km²3,1912,135
Museums within 10 km81178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km17
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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