VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The coloured houses stepping down to the sea, Positano
PositanoThe coloured houses stepping down to the sea

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Positano by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Positano?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Positano for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Positano’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, Positano 77: Positano leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Positano 40: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Positano 22: Edinburgh leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Positano 22: Edinburgh leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Positano 80: Positano leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Positano 88: Positano leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Positano 28: Edinburgh leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Positano 35: Edinburgh leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Positano 45: Edinburgh leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Positano 10: Edinburgh leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Positano 15: Edinburgh leads by 57 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Positano 45: Positano leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Positano.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Positano
42match

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.

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

Positano in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghPositano

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.

Positano's temperatures are measured 25 km from the centre, at Capri.

Positano 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.

Positano's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Positano: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (25.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghPositano
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 m142 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)33 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghPositano
City population488,0503,729
People per km²1,884429
Museums within 10 km3210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km35
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 Positano 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.