VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Hiroshima or Zurich?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima 66, Zurich 53: Hiroshima leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Zurich 58: Hiroshima leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima 62, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Hiroshima 80, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima 52, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Zurich 3: Hiroshima leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima 38, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima 50, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hiroshima
56match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaZurich
Official languageJapaneseFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYen (JPY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation3 m408 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaZurich
City population1,198,021440,935
People per km²1,3245,016
Museums within 10 km1863
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hiroshima or Zurich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.