VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Hiroshima or Jerusalem?

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 Hiroshima for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Jerusalem for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’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. Hiroshima 30, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima and Jerusalem are level on 66.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Jerusalem 92: Jerusalem leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Jerusalem 38: Hiroshima leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima 62, Jerusalem 60: Hiroshima leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Hiroshima and Jerusalem are level on 80.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Jerusalem 52: Hiroshima leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Jerusalem 55: Hiroshima leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima 52, Jerusalem 48: Hiroshima leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Jerusalem 20: Hiroshima leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima 38, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima 50, Jerusalem 42: Hiroshima leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hiroshima
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaJerusalem

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem 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. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaJerusalem
Official languageJapaneseHebrew
CurrencyYen (JPY)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 100, fire 102
Elevation3 m754 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaJerusalem
City population1,198,0211,050,151
People per km²1,3248,374
Museums within 10 km1869
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km27
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hiroshima or Jerusalem somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.