Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.
Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh for
- live music and the arts
- getting around
What lies behind each score is written up on Edinburgh’s own page.
Choose Lisbon for
- beaches
- nightlife
- prices
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.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Lisbon.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nightlife 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
Lisbon in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Edinburgh | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | Portuguese |
| Currency | Pound Sterling (GBP) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC, UTC+1 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 999 | 112 |
| Elevation | 47 m | 100 m |
| Main airport | Edinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinations | Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 10 days | 14 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Edinburgh | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 488,050 | 545,796 |
| People per km² | 1,884 | 5,453 |
| Museums within 10 km | 32 | 80 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 3 | 3 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Lisbon somewhere new.