VacationSelector
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Dresden or York?

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
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose York for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: York leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Dresden 45, York 42: Dresden leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Dresden 79, York 70: Dresden leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Dresden 47, York 36: Dresden leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dresden 74, York 62: Dresden leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Dresden 76, York 80: York leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Dresden and York are level on 60.
Getting around. Dresden 74, York 72: Dresden leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Dresden 42, York 46: York leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Dresden 55, York 38: Dresden leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dresden 76, York 38: Dresden leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dresden 42, York 34: Dresden leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Dresden
Best match
57match

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

York
49match

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.

Dresden in July

26 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
DresdenYork

Where the figures come from

York has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDresdenYork
Official languageGermanEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation126 m25 m
Main airportDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureDresdenYork
City population562,764208,400
People per km²1,713766
Museums within 10 km7024
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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