VacationSelector
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Dresden 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 Dresden for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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. Dresden 10, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Dresden 45, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Dresden 79, Lisbon 78: Dresden leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Dresden 47, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dresden 74, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Dresden 76, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Dresden 60, Lisbon 62: Lisbon leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Dresden 74, Lisbon 66: Dresden leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Dresden 42, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Dresden and Lisbon are level on 55.
Live music & performing arts. Dresden 76, Lisbon 60: Dresden leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dresden 42, Lisbon 36: Dresden leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Dresden
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and food and drink 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

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
DresdenLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDresdenLisbon
Official languageGermanPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation126 m100 m
Main airportDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDresdenLisbon
City population562,764545,796
People per km²1,7135,453
Museums within 10 km7080
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 Dresden 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.