VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Hamburg or Palermo?

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

  • families
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Palermo for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’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, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Palermo 81: Palermo leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Palermo 80: Palermo leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Palermo 58: Hamburg leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Palermo 72: Palermo leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Palermo 84: Palermo leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Palermo 44: Hamburg leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Palermo 50: Hamburg leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Palermo 44: Hamburg leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Palermo 63: Palermo leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Palermo 62: Hamburg leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Palermo 30: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Palermo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Hamburg
60match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

Palermo
62match

Wins on beaches and food and drink 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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgPalermo

Where the figures come from

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgPalermo
Official languageGermanItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m14 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgPalermo
City population1,869,473630,167
People per km²2,4763,924
Museums within 10 km7742
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Palermo 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.