VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Hamburg 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 Hamburg for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • 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. Hamburg 28, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Lucerne 35: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Lucerne 58: Hamburg leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Lucerne 28: Hamburg leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Lucerne 66: Hamburg leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Lucerne 46: Hamburg leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Lucerne 8: Hamburg leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Lucerne 66: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Lucerne
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgLucerne

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. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgLucerne
Official languageGermanFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m436 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgLucerne
City population1,869,47386,234
People per km²2,4762,963
Museums within 10 km7714
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 Hamburg 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.