VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Hamburg or Petra?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Petra for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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, Petra 5: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Petra 22: Hamburg leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Petra 85: Petra leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Petra 5: Hamburg leads by 71 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Petra 78: Petra leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Petra 30: Hamburg leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Petra 25: Hamburg leads by 49 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Petra 25: Hamburg leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Petra 18: Hamburg leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Petra 45: Petra leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Petra 10: Hamburg leads by 70 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Petra 28: Hamburg leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Petra.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights 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

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgPetra
Official languageGermanArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m850 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgPetra
City population1,869,473-
People per km²2,476-
Museums within 10 km772
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 Petra 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. 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.