VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The colonnaded court of Luxor Temple, Luxor
LuxorThe colonnaded court of Luxor Temple

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Luxor by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or Luxor?

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

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Luxor for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Luxor’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, Luxor 6: Jerusalem leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Luxor 30: Jerusalem leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Luxor 95: Luxor leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Luxor 10: Jerusalem leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Luxor 32: Jerusalem leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Luxor 62: Jerusalem leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Luxor 30: Jerusalem leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Luxor 35: Jerusalem leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Luxor 25: Jerusalem leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Luxor 90: Luxor leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Luxor 10: Jerusalem leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Luxor 28: Jerusalem leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Luxor
38match

Wins on prices 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.

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Luxor in July

41 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemLuxor

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.

Luxor 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. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Luxor: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Luxor (6.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemLuxor
Official languageHebrewArabic
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation754 m89 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsLuxor International Airport (LXR)7 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemLuxor
City population1,050,151202,232
People per km²8,374486
Museums within 10 km694
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 Luxor 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. 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.