VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Edinburgh or Jerusalem?

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 Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Jerusalem for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’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. Edinburgh 22, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Jerusalem 66: Jerusalem leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Jerusalem 92: Jerusalem leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Jerusalem 38: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Jerusalem 60: Edinburgh leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Jerusalem 80: Jerusalem leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Jerusalem 52: Edinburgh leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Jerusalem 55: Edinburgh leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Jerusalem 48: Edinburgh leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Jerusalem 20: Edinburgh leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Jerusalem 40: Edinburgh leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Jerusalem 42: Jerusalem leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

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

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghJerusalem

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Jerusalem 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghJerusalem
Official languageEnglishHebrew
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999Police 100, fire 102
Elevation47 m754 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghJerusalem
City population488,0501,050,151
People per km²1,8848,374
Museums within 10 km3269
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km37
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone7 months

Where else could you go?

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