VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Hamburg or Rome?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Rome 82: Rome leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Rome 99: Rome leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Rome 58: Hamburg leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Rome 58: Rome leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Rome 92: Rome leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Rome 50: Hamburg leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Rome 60: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Rome 72: Rome leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Hamburg and Rome are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Rome 68: Hamburg leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Rome 40: Hamburg leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hamburg
60match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgRome
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 m21 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgRome
City population1,869,4732,748,109
People per km²2,4762,135
Museums within 10 km77178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km17
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 Rome 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.