VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Helsinki or Lisbon?

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 Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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. Helsinki 28, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Lisbon 78: Lisbon leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Lisbon 62: Helsinki leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Lisbon 66: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Lisbon 60: Helsinki leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Lisbon 60: Helsinki leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Lisbon 36: Helsinki leads by 46 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Helsinki
59match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiLisbon
Official languageFinnish, SwedishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation17 m100 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiLisbon
City population694,392545,796
People per km²3,2395,453
Museums within 10 km7480
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Helsinki or Lisbon 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.