VacationSelector
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Dubrovnik 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 Dubrovnik for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • getting around

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. Dubrovnik 74, Zurich 45: Dubrovnik leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Dubrovnik 47, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Dubrovnik 72, Zurich 58: Dubrovnik leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Dubrovnik 37, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubrovnik 70, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Dubrovnik 66, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Dubrovnik 50, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Dubrovnik 60, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Dubrovnik 25, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 41 points.
Affordability. Dubrovnik 28, Zurich 3: Dubrovnik leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubrovnik 25, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubrovnik 32, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubrovnik and Zurich.

Your match

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

Dubrovnik
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DubrovnikZurich

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik 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.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubrovnikZurich
Official languageCroatianFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m408 m
Main airportDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubrovnikZurich
City population41,562440,935
People per km²-5,016
Museums within 10 km763
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dubrovnik 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). 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.