VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Jerusalem or Palermo?

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
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Palermo for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’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, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Palermo 81: Palermo leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Palermo 80: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Palermo 58: Palermo leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Palermo 72: Palermo leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Palermo 84: Palermo leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Palermo 44: Jerusalem leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Palermo 50: Jerusalem leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Palermo 44: Jerusalem leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Palermo 63: Palermo leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Palermo 62: Palermo leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Palermo 30: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Palermo
Best match
62match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemPalermo

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.

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemPalermo
Official languageHebrewItalian
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102112
Elevation754 m14 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemPalermo
City population1,050,151630,167
People per km²8,3743,924
Museums within 10 km6942
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km71
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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