VacationSelector
The old town on the Neckar, Heidelberg
HeidelbergThe old town on the Neckar
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Heidelberg by Kuanling Chen, Pexels License; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Heidelberg or Vienna?

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

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Vienna leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Heidelberg 40, Vienna 68: Vienna leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Heidelberg 58, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Heidelberg 38, Vienna 50: Vienna leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Heidelberg 60, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Heidelberg 78, Vienna 74: Heidelberg leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Heidelberg 62, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Heidelberg 72, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Heidelberg 40, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Heidelberg 42, Vienna 44: Vienna leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Heidelberg 48, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Heidelberg 44, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Heidelberg and Vienna.

Your match

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

Heidelberg
49match

Wins on day trips with your weighting.

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Heidelberg in July

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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HeidelbergVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHeidelbergVienna
Official languageGermanGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation114 m151 m
Main airportFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre281 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureHeidelbergVienna
City population156,0922,028,289
People per km²1,4334,890
Museums within 10 km17152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43

Where else could you go?

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