VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Edinburgh or Palermo?

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

  • getting around
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Palermo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’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, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Palermo 81: Palermo leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Palermo 80: Palermo leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Palermo 58: Palermo leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Palermo 72: Edinburgh leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Palermo 84: Palermo leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Palermo 44: Edinburgh leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Palermo 50: Edinburgh leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Palermo 44: Edinburgh leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Palermo 63: Palermo leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Palermo 62: Edinburgh leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Palermo 30: Edinburgh leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Palermo.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Palermo
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghPalermo

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.

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghPalermo
Official languageEnglishItalian
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation47 m14 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghPalermo
City population488,050630,167
People per km²1,8843,924
Museums within 10 km3242
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Palermo 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.