VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chicago or Zurich?

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 Chicago for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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. Chicago 50, Zurich 45: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Zurich 53: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Zurich 58: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Zurich 62: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Zurich 76: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Zurich 66: Chicago leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Zurich 3: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Zurich 70: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Chicago
62match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on day trips 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.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoZurich
Official language-French, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m408 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoZurich
City population2,746,388440,935
People per km²4,5295,016
Museums within 10 km4463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Zurich 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.