VacationSelector
The old town on the Neckar, Heidelberg
HeidelbergThe old town on the Neckar
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Heidelberg by Kuanling Chen, Pexels License; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Heidelberg 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 Heidelberg for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Heidelberg 7, Petra 5: Heidelberg leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Heidelberg 40, Petra 22: Heidelberg leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Heidelberg 58, Petra 85: Petra leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Heidelberg 38, Petra 5: Heidelberg leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Heidelberg 60, Petra 78: Petra leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Heidelberg 78, Petra 30: Heidelberg leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Heidelberg 62, Petra 25: Heidelberg leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Heidelberg 72, Petra 25: Heidelberg leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Heidelberg 40, Petra 18: Heidelberg leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Heidelberg 42, Petra 45: Petra leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Heidelberg 48, Petra 10: Heidelberg leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Heidelberg 44, Petra 28: Heidelberg leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Heidelberg and Petra.

Your match

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

Heidelberg
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Heidelberg in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
16 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HeidelbergPetra

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. Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHeidelbergPetra
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
Elevation114 m850 m
Main airportFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre281 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHeidelbergPetra
City population156,092-
People per km²1,433-
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Heidelberg 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.