VacationSelector
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima

Photos: Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Dresden or Hiroshima?

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 Dresden for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Hiroshima for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Hiroshima’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. Dresden 10, Hiroshima 30: Hiroshima leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Dresden 45, Hiroshima 66: Hiroshima leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Dresden 79, Hiroshima 60: Dresden leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Dresden 47, Hiroshima 45: Dresden leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dresden 74, Hiroshima 62: Dresden leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Dresden 76, Hiroshima 80: Hiroshima leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Dresden and Hiroshima are level on 60.
Getting around. Dresden and Hiroshima are level on 74.
Shopping & style. Dresden 42, Hiroshima 52: Hiroshima leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Dresden 55, Hiroshima 58: Hiroshima leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dresden 76, Hiroshima 38: Dresden leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dresden 42, Hiroshima 50: Hiroshima leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dresden and Hiroshima.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Dresden
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Hiroshima
56match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Dresden in July

26 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
DresdenHiroshima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre). Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDresdenHiroshima
Official languageGermanJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation126 m3 m
Main airportDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureDresdenHiroshima
City population562,7641,198,021
People per km²1,7131,324
Museums within 10 km7018
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dresden or Hiroshima 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.