VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or New York?

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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose New York for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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, New York 50: New York leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, New York 92: New York leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, New York 89: Jerusalem leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, New York 97: New York leads by 59 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, New York 55: Jerusalem leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, New York 68: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, New York 70: New York leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, New York 82: New York leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, New York 97: New York leads by 49 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, New York 12: Jerusalem leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, New York 99: New York leads by 59 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem and New York are level on 42.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemNew York

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. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemNew York
Official languageHebrew-
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102911
Elevation754 m25 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemNew York
City population1,050,1518,804,190
People per km²8,3747,256
Museums within 10 km69157
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km72
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem or New York 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.