VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Jerusalem or Lucerne?

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 Jerusalem for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Lucerne for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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. Jerusalem 40, Lucerne 35: Jerusalem leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Lucerne 35: Jerusalem leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Lucerne 58: Jerusalem leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Lucerne 28: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Lucerne 78: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Lucerne 46: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Lucerne 8: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Lucerne.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

Lucerne
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

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

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemLucerne

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.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemLucerne
Official languageHebrewFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102112
Elevation754 m436 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemLucerne
City population1,050,15186,234
People per km²8,3742,963
Museums within 10 km6914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km71
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem or Lucerne 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.