VacationSelector
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Fes by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Fes or Lucerne?

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 Fes for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • getting around
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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. Fes 5, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Fes 62, Lucerne 35: Fes leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Fes 80, Lucerne 58: Fes leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Fes 12, Lucerne 28: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fes 52, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Fes 62, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Fes 22, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Fes 40, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Fes 68, Lucerne 46: Fes leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Fes 80, Lucerne 8: Fes leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fes 32, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fes 70, Lucerne 46: Fes leads by 24 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Fes
49match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fes in July

36 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
FesLucerne

Where the figures come from

Fes's station stands 171 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Fes 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.

Fes's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Meknes.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fes: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Fes-Sais (12.4 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFesLucerne
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCE50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15112
Elevation408 m436 m
Main airportFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureFesLucerne
City population1,167,84286,234
People per km²3,6502,963
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fes or Lucerne 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.