VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or Portland?

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
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Jerusalem leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Portland 68: Portland leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Portland 38: Jerusalem leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Portland 52: Portland leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Portland 84: Portland leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Portland 58: Jerusalem leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Portland 55: Portland leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Portland 62: Portland leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Portland 52: Portland leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Portland 38: Portland leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Portland 55: Portland leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem and Portland are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Portland.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemPortland

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). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemPortland
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-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102911
Elevation754 m152 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemPortland
City population1,050,151652,503
People per km²8,3741,736
Museums within 10 km6917
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
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 Portland 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.