VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Hamburg or Osaka?

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

  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Osaka for

  • food and drink
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Osaka leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Osaka 63: Osaka leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Osaka 58: Osaka leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Osaka 66: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Osaka.

Your match

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

Hamburg
60match

Wins on live music and the arts with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on food and drink 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
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgOsaka
Official languageGermanJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation6 m20 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgOsaka
City population1,869,4732,751,862
People per km²2,47612,340
Museums within 10 km7744
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Osaka 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.