VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Guilin 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 Guilin for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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. Guilin 8, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Lucerne 35: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Lucerne 58: Lucerne leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Lucerne 28: Guilin leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Lucerne 8: Guilin leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Lucerne.

Your match

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

Guilin
44match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinLucerne

Where the figures come from

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. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinLucerne
Official languagePutonghuaFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation153 m436 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinLucerne
City population4,931,13786,234
People per km²-2,963
Museums within 10 km114
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 Guilin 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.